3  1822  00531  0693 


M 


UBRARV 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

CALIFORKIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


^ 


\ 


UNIVERSITY  or  ",■•;  :rnr 


3  1822  00531  0693 


Central  University  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall  after  two  weeks. 

Date  Due 


APR  1 1  1991 

CI  39  (1/91)                                                                 UCSDLib. 

I/.  "^ 


THE   MEDICI 


First  Edition,         ....  'November  1909. 

Second  Edition,      .         ,         .         .  March  1911. 

Third  Edition,       .  .  July  1912. 

Reprinted, October  1920. 


Ome-r-^^^ixlfii^^-^  h.  d^. 


i'^d  til  en  lie  nr    .    I  [edict 

at   t/ic   a<^c  c/'  21 
^yoHi'ttct   tn    the   ri'ijal    t-illa    cf  cJc-gqio  a  C~>a 


THE     MEDICI 


BY  COLONEL   G.   F.   YOUNG,   CB. 


"  Facta  ducis  vivent,  operosaque  gloria  rerum ; 

Haec  manei;  haec  avidos  effugit  una  rogos."—0\nD. 

"  Nescire  autem  quid  antea  quam  natus  sis  accident^ 
id  est  semper  esse  puerum." — CiCERO. 


WITH    PORTRAITS    AND    ILLUSTRATIONS 

IN   TWO   VOLUMES 

VOL.   II. 


NEW   YORK 

E.    P.    DUTTON    AND   COMPANY 

1920 


Translation.^ 

"The  leader's  deeds  and  hard  won  glory  live  ; 
This  remains  ;  this  alone  survives  the  funeral  fires." — Ovid. 


"  Not  to  know  the  events  which  happened  before  one 
was  born,  that  is  to  remain  always  a  boy." — CiCERO. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XIX 

PAOK 

Catherine  de'  Medici  (1519-1550) 1 

(i)- 1619-1533 12 

(ii)  1533-1559 28 

CHAPTER  XX 

Catherine  de'  Medici  (1559-1589) 65 

(i)  1559-1560 74 

(ii)  1661-1674 92 

(iii)  1574-1689 136 

PART  II 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Lorenzo  (the  elder),  Pier  Francesco  (the  elder),  Lorenzo  (the 

younger)^  and  Pier  Francesco  (the  younger)  .         ,         .       169 

CHAPTER  XXII 
Giovanni  "  Popolano,"  and  Catherine  Sforza        ,         >         .       177 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,   and  Maria  Salviati         .         .       213 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
CosiMO  I.  (1537-1574) 235 


vi  ,  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXV 

PAGE 

Fbancis  I.  (1574-1687) 304 

CHAPTER  XXVI 
Ferdinand  I.  (1587-1609) .       339 

CHAPTER  XXVII 
CosiMO  II.  (1609-1620) 373 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 
Ferdinand  II.  (1620-1670) 890 

CHAPTER   XXIX 
Cosmo  III,  (1670-1723) 459 

CHAPTER  XXX 
Giovanni  Gastone  (1723-1737) 486 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

Anna  Maria  Ludovica  ("  the  last  of  the  Medici ")    .         .         .       495 

CHAPTER  XXXII 
San  Lorenzo  and  the  Tombs  of  the  Medici    ....       611 

EPILOGUE 522 

INDEX 637 


APPENDICES 

PAGE 

I.  Genealogical  tree  of  the  ^Jedic^          .....  527 

X.  Popes  of  the  fifteenth,  .sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  cevfuries   .  .528 

XI.  Emperors  from  UOO  to  ^7 S7 529 

XII.   Cosimo  II.'s  brothers  and  siste7-s         .....  530 

XIII.  Ferdinand  II.'s  biothers  and  sisters  .....  531 

XIV.  Plan  showing  the  three  stages  of  the  Pitti  Palace          .         .  532 

XV.  Facsimile  of  genealogical  tree  drawn  up  for  the  Elcctresx 

Anna  Maria  Ludovicn           ......  5.33 

XVI.   The  Peruzzi  de  Medici 534 

X\'II.   Pliin   of   the   Crypt   of   the    Medici    Mausoleum,    showing 

position  of  the  respective  tombstones       ....  635 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOL.    II 

PLATE  To  face  page 

XXXIX.     CATHERINE      De'       MEDICI       AT       THE       AGE       OF       TWENTY- 
ONE  .......  Frontispiece 

(Portrait  in  the  royal  villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano.) 

XL.     HENRY    II.    AND    CATHERINE      ......  38 

By  Clouet.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

XLI.    CATHERINE    De'    MEDICI    AT    THE    AGE    OF    FORTY  .  .  62 

By  Pourbus.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 


XLII.    LORENZO,    BROTHER    OF    COSIMO    PATER    PATRIAE    (lORENZO 

THE    elder)        ........       1G9 

By  Bronzino.     (UflBzi  Gallery.) 

xlin.   pier  francesco,  son  of  lorenzo  (pier  francesco  the 

elder)     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .170 

By  Bronzino.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

XLIV.    GIOVANNI,    SON    OF    PIER    FRANCESCO    THE    ELDER         ,  .178 

By  Vasari.     (Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence.) 

XLV.    CATHERINE    SFORZA,    AT   TWENTY       .....       190 

By  Palmezzano.    (Forli  Gallery.) 

XLVI.     CATHERINE    SFORZA,    WIFE    OF    GIOVANNI,    AT    FORTY-FIVE  .        210 

By  Vasari.     (Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence.) 

XLVII.    GIOVANNI    DELLE    BANDE    NERE  .....       220 

By  Titian.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

XLVIir.     MARIA    SALVIATI,    WIFE    OF    GIOVANNI    DELLE    BANDE    NERE       228 

By  Vasari.     (Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence.) 

XLIX.     THE  COUNCIL  OFFERING    TO    COSIMO    THE  RULE  OF  FLORE.NCE       236 

Bas-relief  by  Giaa  da  Bologna.     (Statue  of  Cosimo  I.^ 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  To  face  page 

L.     COUHTVARD    OP'    THK    HAIUiKLLO  .....        240 

LI.     ELEONORA     DI    TOLKI>0,    WIFE    OK    COSIMO    \. ,    AT    TWENTY    .        246 

By  Bronzino,     (Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence.) 

LII.   COSIMO  I.        ........  .      247 

By  Bronzino.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

LIII.     THE    PITTI    PALACE  .......       264 

LIV.     A    LADY    OF    THE    DUCAL    COURT  ....       255 

(Showing  the  Palace  as  completed  by  Coaimo  I.) 
(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LV.     MARIA    DE'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    COSIMO    I.     .  .  .        272 

By  Bronzino.     (Uffizi  Gallery. ) 

LVI.    GIOVANNI,    SON    OF    COSIMO    I.    .  .  .  .  .  .       280 

By  Sustermans.     (Poggio  a  Caiano.) 

LVII.    GARZIA,    SON    OF    COSIMO    I.         .  .  .  .  .  .281 

By    Bronzino.       (Reproduced    by    permission    of    the 
Visitors  of  the  Ashmoleaa  Museum,  Oxford.) 

LVllI.     ELEONORA    Dl    TOLEDO    AT    THIRTY-ONE       ....       288 

By  Bronzino.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LIX.  THE  LONG  GALLERY,  LEADING  FROM  THE  PALAZZO  VECCHIO, 
ON  THE  NORTH  BANK  OF  THE  AKNO,  TO  THE  PITTI 
PALACE,    ON    THE    SOUTH    BANK    (tHE    "  PASSAGGIO  ")      .        292 

LX.     COSIMO    I.,    WEARING    HIS    CROWN    AND    ROBES    OF    STATE       .        298 

By  Bronzino.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXI.    FRANCIS    I.,    SON    OF    COSIMO    1 308 

By  Paolo  Veronese.     (State  apartments,  Pitti  Palace.) 

LXII.    PIETRO,    SON    OP    COSIMO    I.         .....  .       309 

By  Bronzino.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXIII.     ISABELLA    De'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    C0S15I0    I.  .  .       316 

(Medallion.) 

LXIY.     JOANNA    OF    AUSTRIA,    FIRST    WIFE    OF    FRANCIS    I.        .  .317 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXV.     ELEONORA    De'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    FRANCIS    I.       .  .       320 

By  Pulzoni.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

LXVI.    BIANCA    CAPEIXO,    AT    TWENTY  .....       321 

By  Titian.     (Torre  del  Gallo.) 

LXVII.     BIANCA  CAPELLO,   SECOND  WIFE  OF  FRANCIS  I.,  AT  THIRTY.        326 

By  Bronzino.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 

PLATK  To  face  page 

LXVIII.    THE    ROYAL    VILLA    OP   P0G6I0    A    CAIA.VO  ....       332 
LXIX.     RKCEPTION-ROOM    IX    THE    VILLA    OF    POGGIO    A    CAIANO  .       333 

liXX.     FERDINAND    I.,    SON    OF    COSIMO    I.      .  ,  .  ,  .       340 

ByAllori.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

LXXI.     CHRISTINE     OF     LORRAINE,     WIFE     OF      FERDINAND      I.,     AT 

TWENTY-FIVE     ........       346 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXII.     MARIA    De'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    FRANCIS    I.     (mARIE    DE 

MEDICl) 354 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXIII.    COSIMO,    SON    OF    FERDINAND    I.,    AT   TWELVE       .  ,  .       35,5 

By  Sustermans.     (Villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano.) 

LXXIV.    COSIMO   II 374 

By  Sustermans.     (Corsini  Gallery.) 

LXXV.     MARIA    MADDALENA    OF    AUSTRIA,    WIFE    OF    COSIMO    II.  .        375 

By  Sustermans.     (Corsini  Gallery. ) 

LXXVI,    FRANCESCO,    SON    OF    FERDINAND    I.  .  ,  ,  ,       382 

(Uffizi  GaUery.) 

LXXVII.   ELEONORA  De'  3IEDICI,  ELDEST  DAUGHTER  OF  FERDINAND  I.        383 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXVIII.     CATERINA    De'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    FERDINAND    I.  ,        386 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXIX.    THE    PITTI   PALACE.       (baCK    VIEW.)  ....       387 

LXXX.    THE   GRAND    DUCHESS    CHRISTINE    AT    FIFTY-FIVE  .  .       392 

By  Sustermans.     (Corsini  Gallery.) 

LXXXI.     THE    GRAND    DUCHESS    MARIA    MADDALENA,    AS     REGENT    OF 

TUSCANY 393 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXXII.     FERDINAND    II.    AT    FOURTEEN  .  t  i  .  .       396 

By  Sustermans.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

LXXXIII.    CLAUDIA   DE'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    FERDINAND    I.  .       397 

By  Sustermans.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

LXXXIV.    MARGHERITA    De'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    COSIMO    II.  ,        410 

By  Sustermans.     (Villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano.) 

LXXXV.     FRANCESrO,    SON    OF    COSIMO    II.  .  .  .  .  .411 

By  Sustermans.     (Villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano.) 


xii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  To  face  page 

r-XXXVI.     ANNA    DE'    MEDICI,    DAUGHTER    OF    COSIMO    U.      .  .  .        422 

By  Sustermans.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

lAXXVII.    LORENZO,    BROTHER    OF    COSIMO    U.    .  ,  i  •  .       423 

(Old  engraving.) 

LXXXVIII.    FERDINAND    II.  ...■••.  .       426 

By  Sustermans.     (UflBzi  Gallery.) 

LXXXIX.    VITTORIA    DEIAA    ROVERE,    WIFE    OP    FERDINAND    H.  .       427 

By  Sustermans.     (Uffizi  Gallery.) 

XC.    MATTIAS,    SON    OF    COSIMO    II. 434 

By  Sustermans.     (Pitti  Gallery.) 

XCI.    GIOVANNI    CARLO,    SON    OF    COSIMO    II.  ...  .       435 

By  Sustermans.     (Lucca  Gallery.) 

XCII.  LEOPOLD,  SON  OF  COSIMO  II.  .      .      .      r      .      .   436 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

XCIII.    MARGUERITE    LOUISE    OF    ORLEANS,    WIFE    OP    COSIMO    III.     .       460 

<  Uffizi  Gallery.  \ 

XCIV.    FERDINAND,    SON    OF    COSIMO    III.         .....       468 

Marble  bust.     (Naples  Gallery.) 

XCV.    ANNA    MAUIA    LUDOVICA,    DAUGHTER    OP    COSIMO    III.  .  .       469 

By  Van  der  Werff.     (Munich  Gallery.) 

XCVI.  COSIMO  III.  AT  AGE  OF  SEVENTY   .....   482 

(Old  engraviag.) 

XCVII.    GIOVANNI    GASTONE,    SON    OP    COSIMO    III.    ....       486 

(Uffi'i  Gallery.) 

XCVIII.     VIOLANTE     BEATRICE    OF    BAVARIA,     WIPE    OF    FERDINAND, 

ELDEST   SON    OF    COSIMO    III.    ......       487 

(Uffizi  Gallery.) 

XCIX.    THE    BLECTRESS    ANNA    MARIA    LUDOVICA    AS    A    WIDOW  .        496 

(The  property  of  the  Marchese  Peruzzi  de'  Medici.) 

C.  INTERIOR    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    SAN    LORENZO     .  .  .  512 

CI.  INTERIOR    OF    THE    MEDICI    MAUSOLEUM       ,  ■  .  .  513 

CII.  TOMB    OF    FERDINAND    I.  ......  516 

cm.  TOMB    OF    COSIMO    II.  .  , 617 


THE   MEDICI 

CHAPTER   XIX 

CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI 

Born  1619.     (Married  1633.)    Died  1689. 

(1)  THE  FIRST  FORTY   YEARS  OF   HER   LIFE 

Modern  history  has  requirements  of  which  former 
generations  seldom  dreamt.  In  former  days  the 
method  which  as  a  rule  commended  itself  to  both 
writer  and  reader  was  one  by  which  characters  in 
history  were  labelled  as  "  bad "  or  "  good,"  and 
little  attempt  made  at  any  further  discrimination. 
The  fact  was  lost  sight  of  that,  since  real  characters 
are  more  complex  than  this,  such  a  method  pro- 
duces figures  unlike  any  men  or  women  who  ever 
lived,  and  so  gives  us  distorted  views  of  history. 
Agahi,  while  much  more  information  is  available 
now  than  formerly,  it  is  also  coming  to  be  seen 
that  actions  belonging  to  a  bygone  age  must  be 
judged  upon  a  different  principle  to  that  hitherto 
in  vogue.  Thus  a  writer  of  our  time  has  pointed 
out  that  "  while  with  a  former  generation  it  was 
natural  to  lavish  indiscriminate  condemnation  upon 
all  characters  in  histoiy  who  took  a  different  course 
to  that  which  would  now  be  taken  by  any  one, 

VOL.  II.  A 


2  CATHERINE    DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

modern  conceptions  of  the  proper  attitude  of 
mind  in  one  who  deals  with  history  require  him 
to  strive  to  enter  impartially  into  the  feelings  of 
all  his  characters."^ 

In  order  to  avoid  that  tendency  to  create 
impossible  figures  which  is  so  severely  condemned 
by  the  modern  view  of  the  matter,  and  arrive 
at  that  more  discriminate  estimate  of  historical 
characters  now  deemed  imperative,  probably  no 
requirement  is  more  essential  than  that  we  should 
put  ourselves  mentally  into  the  atmosphere  of 
the  time,  and  carefully  guard  against  judging  such 
characters  by  the  standards  of  our  own  age  (in 
which  persons  live  and  act  under  totally  different 
conditions),  instead  of  in  relation  to  the  opinions 
and  conditions  of  their  day.  Looked  at  in  the 
latter  way,  those  who  were  in  advance  of  the  moral 
standard  of  their  time,  and  those  who  were  behind 
it,  will  both  be  correctly  judged  ;  but  neither  of 
them  will  be  so  if  the  standard  employed  is  that 
of  our  own  age. 

The  foregoing  considerations  are  more  important 
in  the  case  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  than  perhaps 
of  any  other  figure  in  history.  For  we  have  in 
her  case  an  exceptional  combination  of  incentives 
to  the  production  of  a  fictitious  character.  In 
the  first  place,  the  marriage  arranged  for  her  by 
Clement  VII.  in  his  scheme  for  outmtting  Charles 
V.  produced  a  rooted  prejudice  against  her  from 
the  very  first  in  the  minds  of  the  French,  who 
felt  that  in  her  person  the  honour  of  the  nation 
had  received  a  grievous  insult,  it  being  a  galling 

^  Salmon's  Infallibility  of  the  Church. 


XIX.]  WOUNDED    NATIONAL  PRIDE  S 

wound  to  French  amour  propre  that  tlie  son  of 
their  king  should  marry  one  of  bourgeois  extraction. 
This  feeling  steadily  increased  among  the  French 
people  (whose  favourite  name  for  her  was  "the 
Italian  woman "),  growing  from  prejudice  into 
hatred,  and  causing  the  contemporary  French 
writers  to  credit  her  with  numberless  crimes  ;  "  so 
that,  in  fact,"  says  a  modern  French  writer,  *'  it 
would  seem  from  them  that  scarcely  any  crime 
could  be  committed  in  any  part  of  France  without 
its  being  attributed  in  some  way  to  Catlierine  de' 
Medici."  The  result  has  been  to  make  any  reliable 
account  of  her  actions  practically  unobtainable 
from  them. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  intense  prejudice 
caused  by  this  wound  to  national  pride  would  alone 
have  sufficed  to  furnish  us  with  a  record  from 
the  contemporary  French  writers  calculated  to 
produce  a  very  false  picture  of  the  person  con- 
cerned. But  to  this  were  subsequently  added  two 
other  influences  tending  in  the  same  direction : 
viz.,  the  effects  of  a  bitter  religious  conflict,  calling 
forth  animosities  which  knew  no  bounds  in  attri- 
buting every  crime  and  evil  motive  to  religious 
opponents,^  and  the  delight  in  tales  of  crime  felt 
to  an  unusual  degree  by  the  people  of  that  age. 
Seldom  have  three  such  powerful  inducements 
for  the  production  of  a  fictitious  character  been 
combined  in  connection  with  one  individual ;  and 
this  combination   of  national   prejudice,    religious 

'  Catherine  received  a  double  portion  of  this,  according  as  her 
policy  brought  her  into  collision,  now  with  one  and  now  with  the 
otlier  of  the  two  religious  parties.  While  again  in  otlier  cases  the 
lloinan  (Catholic  party  falsified  her  words  and  actions  in  order  to 
show  that  in  what  they  did  they  had  the  Queen  on  their  side. 


4  CATHERINE    DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

animosity,  and  appetite  for  sensation  produced  a 
result  in  the  case  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  sur- 
passing anything  of  the  kind  to  be  seen  elsewhere. 
The  consequence  has  been  that  a  character  has 
been  presented  to  us  which  was  a  radical  impossi- 
bility ;  we  were  asked  to  beheve  that  it  was 
possible  for  a  woman  to  have  governed  an  im- 
portant state  for  nearly  thirty  years,  enacted  many 
excellent  measures  for  the  better  administration 
of  justice,  intervened  constantly  between  enemies 
anxious  to  destroy  each  other,  been  throughout 
life  a  peacemaker,  saved  the  lives  of  persons  who 
were  her  opponents,  been  greatly  liked  by  various 
persons  of  unimpeachable  character,  and  been  at 
the  end  of  her  life  sufficiently  respected  by  the 
people  of  Paris,  even  when  they  were  in  a  state 
of  violent  rebellion,  to  be  able  to  pass  unprotected 
through  the  barricaded  streets  when  no  one  else 
could  do  so,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  to  have 
been  a  prodigy  of  duplicity  and  crime,  committing 
murders  wholesale.  And  such  a  combination 
being  so  completely  incongruous,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  we  find  a  modern  French  writer  say- 
ing : — "  Catherine  de'  Medici  has  been  so  greatly 
disfigured  as  to  make  her,  so  to  say,  unrecognis- 
able ;  .  .  .  a  phantasmagoric  personage."^ 

The  gradual  publication,  however,  of  the  State 
papers  of  various  countries,^  including  Catherine's 
own  voluminous  correspondence,  is  slowly  dis- 
pelling the  errors  which  this  cloud  of  misrepre- 
sentation has  gathered  round  her ;  with  the  result 
that  the  traditional  view  about  her  is  slowly  giving 

^   Women  of  the  Valois  Court,  by  Imbert  de  Saint- Amand  (1900). 

^  See  page  5  (footnote).  The  information  furnished  by  these  State 
papers  has  been  the  chief  source  relied  upon  in  this  history  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici.     {See  also  footnote  to  p.  74.) 


XIX.]  THREE   THINGS   NECESSARY  5 

place  to  a  more  correct  estimate  of  her  character 
and  actions/ 

Three  things  are  necessary  in  order  to  estimate 
the  character  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  correctly. 
First,  to  measure  sixteenth-century  actions  by  six- 
teenth-century standards  of  thought  and  opinion, 
and  not  by  those  of  the  twentieth  century.  Second, 
to  give  the  same  weight  to  facts  which  tell  in  her 
favour  as  to  those  which  tell  against  her  ;  as  would 
be  done  in  a  court  of  law.  Third,  to  look  with 
very  close  scrutiny  at  any  argument  which  urges 
that  some  action  of  hers  in  itself  praiseworthy 
should  not  be  held  to  be  so  in  her  case,  since 
it  was  merely  an  artifice  of  "  duplicity " ;  and  to 
require  corroborative  testimony  of  facts  in  support 
of  all  such  statements. 

The  course  commonly  adopted  has  been  the 
exact  reverse  of  this.  It  has  been  that  of  measur- 
ing her  actions  by  the  standard,  not  of  her  time, 
but  of  ours ;  of  giving  full  weight  to,  and  even 
exaggerating,  all  that  tells  against  her,  while 
giving  little  weight  to  actions  telling  in  her 
favour,  on  the  ground  that  she  was  "  a  mass  of 
indifference,"^  or  in  some  other  way  devoid  of 
the  feelings  which  ordinarily  prompt  such  actions 
— all   of  which  is  pure   assumption ;    and,  lastly, 

^  The   chief  informatiou   of  the   above  kind  which   has  in  recent 
years  become  available  is  that  furnished  by  the  following  : — 
Spanish  State  Papers  (1558-1G03),  7  vols.  ;  publislied  in  1894. 
Venetian     State    Papers    (1202-1607)^    10    vols.  ;     published    in 

1900. 
Foreign  State  Papers,  London  (1558-1580),  13  vols.  ;  published  in 

1903. 
Catherine   de'  Medici's  letters   (largely  from  the   Russian   State 

Papers).     Edited  by  Count  Hector  de   La   Ferriere  and   G. 

Baguenault  de  Purhesse  ;  published  in   1903. 
'^  See  Miss  Sichel's  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.  5. 


6  CATHERINE   DE'    MEDICI  [chap. 

where  this  course  is  inappHcable,  of  declaring 
such  actions  to  be  due  to  dupHcity.  All  this  has 
been  done  in  order  to  avoid  a  certain  dilemma 
which  occurs  in  Catherine's  case,  caused  by  the  fact 
that  a  person  whom  it  is  considered  necessary  to 
portray  as  "a  villain"^  has  to  be  credited  with 
a  number  of  actions  incompatible  with  that 
hypothesis ;  so  that,  unless  these  are  explained 
away,  there  is  produced  a  figure  which  is  palpably 
an  impossible  one. 

And  yet,  after  all,  this  dilemma  has  not  been 
avoided.  Again  and  again,  by  writer  after  writer,  we 
find  Catherine  called  an  "  enigma,"  ^  a  "  paradox,"  ^ 
a  "  mystery,"  or  declared  to  "  unite  in  her  character 
the  most  discordant  and  contradictory  quaUties." 
And  even  writers  who  have  been  most  painstaking 
in  investigating  the  details  of  her  life  have  none 
the  less  felt  themselves  impelled  to  use  these  terms 
in  an  endeavour  to  escape  from  this  dilemma.  But 
an  impossible  character  is  not  made  less  impossible 
by  calling  it  an  enigma ;  so  that  this  still  leaves 
the  dilemma  unremoved. 

Catherine  de'  Medici  is  an  "  enigma "  only  to 
those  who  start  from  the  basis  that  she  was  a 
villain,  and  having  taken  that  as  an  axiom,  then 
find  (however  much  is  explained  away)  that  there 
remain  various  qualities  in  her,  and  actions  done 
by  her,  which  fit  so  ill  with  that  axiom  that  all 
attempt  to  reconcile  the  two  has  to  be  abandoned. 
But  those  who,  divesting  their  minds  of  the  pre- 
conceived ideas  implanted  by  the  biassed  writers 
of    a    time    of   abnormally  bitter   conflict,  judge 

'  See  Miss  Sichel's  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.  5. 
^  Idem,  pp.  15  and  19. 


XIX.]  NO   ENIGMA  7 

Catherine's  character  as  it  is  now  revealed  in  the 
fuller  light  available  from  the  State  papers  of 
various  countries,  who  measure  her  actions  in  due 
relation  to  the  conditions  and  standards  of  her 
time,  and,  lastly,  who  take  equally  into  considera- 
tion the  light  shades  vdth  the  dark,  will  find 
Catherine  de'  Medici  no  enigma  at  all,  but  a 
character,  remarkable  indeed  for  energy,  ability, 
and  other  striking  qualities,  but  yet  thoroughly 
harmonious  and  easy  to  understand.  Not  perhaps 
so  well  adapted  for  sensational  methods  of  treat- 
ment, but  at  all  events  real :  a  living  character,  not 
an  impossible  phantom. 

It  is  remarkable  to  see  in  how  many  ways 
Catherine  shows  herself  a  true  representative  of 
the  family  of  whose  elder  branch  she  was  the  last 
descendant.  The  abnormal  ability  and  energy, 
the  love  of  learning,  fondness  for  field  sports, 
artistic  taste,  common-sense,  power  to  sway  those 
brought  into  contact  with  her,  and  love  of  ruling, 
due  to  the  conscious  possession  of  superior  powers, 
all  these  characteristics  which  had  been  prominent 
in  her  ancestors  appear  again  in  fullest  strength  in 
her.  It  is  also  evident  that  she  had  much  of  that 
same  many-sided  character  which  we  have  seen 
recorded  of  her  great  -  grandfather,  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,^  and  seen  described  as  so  difficult 
for  the  northern  races  of  Europe  to  understand, 
and  as  often  causing  him,  too,  to  be  styled  by 
them,  with  as  Httle  reason,  an  "  enigma "  and  a 
"  mystery." 

Coming  to  other  points  more  strictly  personal 

*  Chap.  ix.  pp.  299-300. 


8  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap 

to  herself,  the  first  we  notice  is  that  she  was 
undoubtedly  cold  and  unimpassioned.  And  she 
had  need  to  be  so,  if  she  was  to  survive  to  the 
age  of  seventy  in  a  position  of  authority  in  such 
a  stormy  time  as  was  hers.  In  this  she  is  the 
counterpart  of  two  other  prominent  women  of 
her  age,  Queen  EHzabeth  of  England  and  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  Queen  of  Navarre.  At  the  same  time 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  Catherine  had  as 
much  of  this  quality  as  either  of  the  other  two, 
and  whether  a  great  part  of  the  appearance  which 
she  presented  of  a  cold  and  unimpassioned  nature 
was  not  due  to  her  abnormal  power  of  self-control. 
It  is  admitted  by  all  authorities  that  her  love  for 
her  husband,  Henry  II.,  was  intense,  and  that  his 
indifference  to  her  was  the  great  grief  of  her  life ; 
while  her  affection,  in  her  youth  for  the  nuns  of 
the  Murate  convent,  in  middle  age  for  her  son 
Henry,  and  in  old  age  for  her  daughter-in-law 
Louise  de  Vaudemont  and  her  granddaughter 
Christine  of  Lorraine,  shows  that  she  was  not 
incapable  of  such  feehngs.  Many  accounts  credit 
her  with  marked  love  for  her  children,  but,  with 
the  exception  of  her  son  Henry,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  these  statements  are  not  mere  courtly 
flatteries.  She  was  exceedingly  careful  of  her 
children's  health  and  training,  but  there  it  would 
seem  to  have  ended,  and  she  at  times  treated 
them  with  great  harshness. 

But  most  prominent  of  aU  the  features  in 
Catherine's  character  were  the  allied  qualities  of 
prudence  and  self-control.  This  self-control  was 
in  her  developed  to  a  degree  which  bordered  upon 
the   marvellous,   being  such  as  has  been  seen   in 


xii]  PRUDENCE   AND   SELF-CONTROL  9 

few  other  individuals.  It  is  constantly  referred 
to  as  amazing  all  around  her.  With  it  was  com- 
bined a  no  less  frequently  mentioned  "  prudence  "  ; 
by  which  term  the  writers  of  that  day  implied  a 
good  deal  more  than  the  meaning  which  we  now 
attach  to  it.  But  in  her  it  was,  so  to  say,  a 
prudence  run  mad,  a  prudence  which  had  been 
allowed  to  absorb  all  other  faculties.  All  thoughts, 
all  feelings,  all  desires  were,  with  an  iron  will, 
drilled  into  subjection  to  this  prudence,  this  un- 
sleeping, incessant  care  at  all  times,  in  all  places, 
under  all  circumstances,  to  look,  to  do,  and  to 
speak  only  that  which  would  advance  the  matter 
in  hand.  Her  daughter,  the  Princess  Marguerite 
(who  stood  in  much  awe  of  her),  speaks  of  her 
as,  "  She  from  whose  soul  prudence  was  never 
parted,  who  moderated  her  actions  according  to 
her  desire,  demonstrating  plainly  that  the  discreet 
person  doeth  nothing  he  willeth  not  to  do."  This 
feature  in  Catherine's  character  was  the  outcome 
(as  will  be  seen')  of  an  unusually  severe  trial, 
lasting  for  many  years.  She  was  not  always  like 
this.  But  she  grew  to  be  so  under  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  her  life  from  the  age  of  twenty  to 
that  of  forty.  And  it  is  this  rigid  prudence  and 
self-control  which  makes  us  feel  her  to  be  so 
unhuman.  She  appears  to  have,  in  one  sense, 
neither  faults  nor  virtues,  and  to  be  as  flawless, 
and  as  unattractive,  as  a  bar  of  finely-tempered 
steel.  As  has  been  said,  it  was  the  force  of  dire 
conditions  which  fashioned  Catherine  the  emotional 
girl,  possessed  of  "  sweetness  of  disposition "  and 
*'  amiable  ways,"  ^  into  Catherine  the  prudent  (and 

'  rage  46.  2  p^gg  £3. 


10  CATHERINE   DE'     MEDICI  [chap. 

icy)  woman.  But  though  it  was  her  misfortune, 
not  her  fault,  it  gave  her  a  characteristic  which 
is  perhaps  most  of  all  resented  by  mankind. 

It  is,  however,  a  mistake  to  imagine  that 
Catherine  was  a  person  of  stone.  The  best  judges 
of  her  conduct  were,  not  the  French,  but  the 
ambassadors  of  other  powers  Uving  at  the  court  of 
France,  especially  those  of  Venice ;  and  from  the 
recently  published  Venetian  State  Papers,  and 
the  very  full  reports^  which  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sadors in  succession  furnished  to  their  Govern- 
ment of  all  these  events,  we  obtain  invaluable 
information  by  which  to  judge  of  all  such  points. 
Thus,  for  instance,  on  this  point  of  her  outward 
appearance  of  indifference  and  want  of  feeling  the 
A^enetian  ambassador,  Giovanni  Correr,  in  one  of 
his  reports  to  his  Government,  writes : — 

"  1  know  that  she  hath  often  been  found  weep- 
ing in  her  chamber ;  but  she  at  once  dried  her 
eyes  and  dissembled  her  sadness ;  and  in  order  to 
mislead  those  who  estimated  the  state  of  affairs 
by  the  expression  of  her  countenance,  she  wore  a 
calm  and  joyous  aspect  when  abroad." 

Although  we  find  some  (even  among  those 
Protestant  writers  who  hated  her  with  a  rancorous 
hatred),  speaking  of  her  "astonishing  evenness  of 
temper,"  she  had  in  reality  a  hot  (though  not 
revengeful)  temper.  But  her  abnormal  power  of 
self-control  never  suffered  this  to  appear  when 
it  would  interfere  in  any  way  with  her  object. 
When,  however,  this  was  not  the  case  her  wrath 
could  show  itself  in  a  manner  terrifying  to  those 
around  her.     The  Princess  Marguerite,  describing 

^  Often  written  in  cipher. 


xix]  OTHER   TRAITS   OF   CHARACTER  11 

one  of  these  outbursts,  says  : — "  Elle  jetait  feu,  et 
disait  tout  ce  qu'une  colore  outr^e  et  d^mesuree 
peut  Jeter  dehors."  Another  trait  in  Catherine, 
inherited  from  ancestors  who  were  Florentine 
citizens,  among  whom  this  quality  was,  and  stiU 
is,  greatly  prized,  was  a  never-failing  bonhomie — 
a  spirit  always  ready  with  a  laugh,  a  joke,  and 
a  cheerful  countenance  even  in  the  midst  of  hard- 
ships and  misfortunes.  Her  attainments  were  of 
a  high  order.  She  was  well  read  and  accom- 
plished ;  she  brought  to  France  that  love  of 
learning  and  art  inherent  in  her  family ;  she  took 
a  special  interest  in  science ;  while  evidence  of  her 
innate  artistic  taste  was  in  after  years  furnished 
by  Fontainebleau,  Chenonceaux,  the  Louvre,  the 
Tuileries,  and  every  other  palace  which  she 
occupied. 

Other  qualities  which  we  find  constantly  men- 
tioned are,  her  great  personal  courage,  power  of 
enduring  physical  pain  without  showing  any  sign, 
and  agreeable  manners.  The  remaining  features 
of  her  character  will  be  more  conveniently  con- 
sidered when  we  come  to  look  at  her  as  ruler  of 
France.^  As  regards  her  appearance,  the  chief 
points  which  we  find  noted  by  contemporary  his- 
torians are,  her  broad  forehead,  fair  hair,  fine  eyes, 
beautiful  hands,  and  tall,  graceful  figure.  Her 
life  divides  itself  into  three  well-marked  periods : 
viz.,  fourteen  years  of  girlhood,  twenty-six  years 
of  married  life,  and  thirty  years  of  widowliood, 
during  the  greater  part  of  which  she  was  the  all- 
powerful  Queen  Regent  of  France. 

'  Chap.  XX. 


12  CATHERINE   DE^   MEDICI  [chap. 

FIRST  PERIOD  (1519-1533) 

Catherine,  the  only  child  of  Lorenzo  (Duke  of 
Urbino)  and  his  young  wife,  Madeleine  de  la  Tour 
d'Auvergne,  belonging  to  the  Bourbon  branch  of 
the  royal  family  of  France,  was  born  in  the  Medici 
Palace  on  the  13th  April  1519,  and  at  her  baptism 
was  given  the  names  of  Catherine  Maria  Romola. 
She  is  well  called  in  history  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
for  while  she  was  the  last  of  that  elder  branch  of 
the  Medici  which  had  had  such  a  great  career, 
in  her  all  the  mental  capacity  of  her  family  (which 
her  father  and  grandfather  had  failed  to  show) 
reappeared  as  strongly  as  ever,  and  in  this  its 
latest  descendant  Cosimo's  branch  showed  no 
smallest  sign  of  deterioration. 

When  Catherine  was  born  her  father,  her 
mother,  her  grandmother,  Alfonsina  Orsini,  and  her 
father's  aunt,  Maddalena  Cibo,  all  lay  dying,^  the 
two  former  at  the  Medici  Palace,  and  the  two  latter 
at  the  villa  of  Careggi.  Catherine's  mother  died 
a  fortnight  after  her  daughter's  birth,  and  her 
father  six  days  later,  while  Maddalena  Cibo  and 
Alfonsina  Orsini  both  died  shortly  afterwards.  The 
orphan  baby  was  thus  left  without  any  near  rela- 
tions (except  her  aunt,  Clarice  Strozzi,  who  was 
in  Rome),  and  she  remained  in  charge  of  servants, 
a  solitary  little  scion  of  the  nearly  extinguislied 
family  in  that  Medici  Palace  which  had  again 
become  "too  large  a  house  for  so  small  a  family."^ 

Ariosto,^  touched    by  the  friendless  condition 

^  It  is  stated  that  when  Lorenzo  was  dying  at  the  Medici  Palace  his 
mother  was  unable  to  go  to  him  as  she  was  herself  on  her  death-bed 
at  Careggi,  so  that  they  were  unable  to  see  each  other. 

2  Vol.  i.  p.  130. 

^  Ariosto  had  come  to  Florence  in  1613  to  study  the  Tuscan  idiom. 


XII.]  A   SOLITARY   ORPHAN  18 

of  this  lonely  little  flower  round  which  so  many 
rough  winds  blew,  wrote  at  this  time  regarding 
her  (speaking  as  for  Florence) : — 

"  Verdeggia  un  ramo  sol  con  poca  foglia ; 
E  fra  tema  e  speranza  sto  sospesa 
Se  lo  mi  lasci  il  verno,  o  lo  mi  taglia."^ 

Being  the  sole  heiress  of  the  possessions  and 
claims  of  the  Medici  family  this  baby  girl  was  a 
small  person  of  much  importance.  On  her  father's 
death  her  distant  relative.  Cardinal  Giulio  de' 
Medici,  came  to  Florence  to  take  charge  of  the 
Government  and  of  herself.  We  have  seen  the 
far-reaching  schemes  which  he  formed  regarding 
her  future  and  that  of  the  family,  and  the  use 
that  he  would  make  of  this  orphan  girl  to 
advance  the  latter.  And  we  have  seen  in  what 
some  of  those  schemes  resulted.  But  we  have 
now  to  look  at  Catherine  herself,  and  at  her  life 
from  the  time  when  she  first  looked  on  the  world 
from  the  windows  of  the  Medici  Palace  in  the 
Via  Larga,  Florence. 

Her  childhood  was  passed  in  the  midst  of 
stormy  episodes,  the  rage  of  furious  mobs,  the 
clash  of  arms,  and  the  sound  of  guns.  When 
she  was  six  months  old  she  was  taken  to  Rome 
(a  difficult  journey  for  a  baby  in  those  days,  and 
performed  by  her  probably  in  a  pannier  on  a 
mule's  back),  and  was  placed  by  her  great-uncle, 
T^eo  X.,  in  the  charge  of  her  aunt,  Clarice  Strozzi. 
She  remained  at  Rome  till  she  was  six,  by 
which    time    Cardinal    Giulio   had    become    Pope 

'  "  A  solitary  branch  becomes  green  with  a  few  leaves  ; 
And  I  am  in  suspense  between  fear  and  liope 
Whether  winter  will  spare  it  to  me^  or  tear  it  from  nie," 


14  CATHERINE   DF/  MEDICI  fonAP. 

Clement  VII.,  and  the  commotions  were  beginning 
which  ended  in  the  sack  of  the  Vatican.  As, 
therefore,  Rome  was  becoming  too  disturbed  a 
residence,  she  was,  in  1525,  sent  back  to  Florence 
to  her  home  in  the  Medici  Palace,  where  she  was 
placed  under  the  charge  of  Cardinal  Passerini, 
at  that  time  governing  Florence  in  the  Medici 
interest,  and  in  whose  charge  were  also  the  two 
boys  of  sixteen  and  fourteen,  Ippolito  and 
Alessandro :  the  former  much  liked,  but  the 
latter  cordially  detested,  by  the  six -year- old 
Catherine. 

For  the  next  two  years  Catherine  remained 
amidst  these  surroundings,  lessons  in  the  various 
subjects  then  considered  necessary  for  every  well- 
born girl  ^  occupying  most  of  her  time,  varied 
by  frequent  battles  with  Alessandro,  the  quarrels 
between  the  two  becoming  at  last  so  pronounced 
that  Alessandro  was  sent  away  to  live  at  the  villa 
of  Poggio  a  Caiano.  Then,  when  Catherine  was 
eight  years  old,  there  took  place  in  Rome  the 
catastrophe  of  1527,  and  news  reached  Florence 
that  the  Papal  city  had  been  taken  and  sacked 
and  awful  horrors  perpetrated,  and  that  the  Pope 
was  being  besieged  in  the  castle  of  St  Angelo. 
The  consternation  in  the  Medici  Palace  was  great, 
especially  as  it  was  soon  known  that  the  Signoria 
had  assembled  and  were  debating  whether  Florence 
should  revolt  from  Pope  Clement  and  banish  the 
Medici  family.  And  that  might  mean  death,  or 
at  the  least  much  danger  and  hardship,  and  the 
palace  would  almost  certainly  be  plundered  of 
everything  by  the  mob  (as  it  was),  and  to  what 

*  See  chap.  xxii.  pp.  181-182. 


XIX.]  A  JUVENILE   PRISONER  15 

city  could  they  go,  since  both  Rome  and  all  places 
in  the  Papal  dominions  and  in  the  Tuscan  state 
would  be  barred  to  them  ? 

These  questions  Cardinal  Passerini  sat  discuss- 
ing in  much  distress  of  mind  with  Ippolito  and 
Alessandro  on  the  19th  May  1527,  and  Catherine 
certainly  listened.  And  then  their  deliberations 
were  broken  in  upon  by  Catherine's  capable  and 
loud-voiced  aunt,  Clarice,  in  the  manner  which 
we  saw ;  and  they  were  bidden  to  depart  with- 
out delay  from  Florence.  But  not  the  little 
"  Duchessina,"  as  Catherine  was  called  ;  ^  for  while 
the  rest,  with  their  retainers,  in  the  utmost  con- 
fusion and  terror,  packed  a  few  necessary  things 
and  made  a  hurried  departure  by  the  exit  at  the 
back  of  the  palace  into  the  Via  de'  Ginori,  and 
while  the  mob,  which  had  been  for  several  hours 
collected  in  the  Via  Larga,  began  to  pour  into 
and  plunder  the  palace,  she  was  ordered  by  the 
Government  to  remain  behind,  to  be  kept  as  a 
prisoner  of  the  Republic,  who  intended  to  use  her 
as  a  valuable  hostage  in  the  case  of  future  difficul- 
ties with  Pope  Clement.  The  terror  suffered  by 
a  child  of  eight  thus  kept  behind  in  the  midst  of 
such  a  scene  of  confusion  in  order  to  be  immured 
amongst  strangers  as  a  prisoner,  was  naturally 
great ;  and  we  see  what  an  impression  it  made 
upon  Catherine  by  her  conduct  three  years  later 
when  bidden  to  leave  the  convent  of  the  INIurate. 
Thus  did  Catherine  begin  at  an  early  age  her 
apprenticeship  to  a  trouble-tossed  life. 

She  was  first  sent  to  the  convent  of  Ognissanti, 

^  Though,  of  course,  she  had  no  right  to  the  title^  the  rightful  Duke 
of  Urbino  having  regained  his  duchy  five  years  before. 


16  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

and  was  kept  there  for  six  months.  Thence  she 
was  removed  suddenly  by  night,  on  the  7th 
December  1527,  to  tile  convent  of  "  Le  Murate," 
on  the  opposite  side  of  Florence,  at  the  far  end 
of  the  long  Via  Ghibellina,  close  under  the  walls 
of  the  city.  The  plague  was  at  tiiat  time  raging 
in  Florence,  and  we  read  how  this  change  of 
prison  entailed  on  Catherine  "  a  long  walk  by  night 
through  the  plague-stricken  streets."  The  convent 
of  Le  Murate  ("the  walled-up  ones")  ^  was  the  most 
important  convent  in  Florence,  being  that  patron- 
ised by  all  those  ladies  of  the  principal  Florentine 
families  who  took  the  veil ;  and  here  Catherine 
remained  for  nearly  three  years,  until  she  was 
eleven  years  old.  The  chief  points  insisted  upon 
in  regard  to  her  were  that  she  was  to  be  kept 
in  safe  custody,  that  there  was  to  be  no  communi- 
cation allowed  between  her  and  any  friends  of 
her  family  in  the  city,  and  that  her  education 
was  to  be  duly  attended  to.  This  point  of 
Catherine's  education  is  one  much  discussed  in 
the  correspondence  of  the  time,  and  the  nuns  of 
the  Murate  certainly  appear  to  have  done  their  part 
well  in  this  respect,  for  Catherine,  though  she  left 
all  compulsory  education  behind  her  at  fourteen, 
was  one  of  the  most  highly  educated  women 
of  her  day.  The  Murate  also  prided  itself  on  its 
teaching  of  deportment  and  polite  behaviour ;  and 

1  The  name  was  due  to  the  ceremony  with  which  each  of  the  nuns 
was  admitted,  viz.,  by  a  portion  of  the  wall  of  the  convent  being 
opened  for  her  entrance,  and  bricked  up  again  behind  her.  But 
it  was,  of  course,  purely  a  symbolical  ceremony,  and  the  convent 
had  its  regular  doorway  :  as,  in  fact,  we  see  from  the  narrative  of 
Catherine's  removal  thence.  So  that  the  whole  of  what  Trollope  says 
on  this  point,  and  as  to  there  being  "other  entrances  known  to  the 
initiated,"  and  its  inculcation  of  duplicity,  and  so  on,  is  entirely 
erroneous  and  misleading. 


xix.j  THE    MURATE   CONVENT  H 

in  this  respect  no  less  than  in  learning  Catherine 
in  her  after  life  did  the  nuns  credit,  for  almost 
every  historian  enlarges  upon  her  pleasing  and 
agreeable  manners. 

It  is  in  this  time  spent  at  the  Murate  that  we 
have  the  first  indications  of  Catherine's  character. 
We  are  told,  by  various  writers  who  deal  with  her 
life  as  a  gii-1,  of  her  kind  and  amiiible  ways ;  and 
this  seems  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  the  nuns 
of  the  Murate  (a  convent  where  there  were  notably 
many  discords)  became  extremely  fond  of  her. 
And  long  afterwards  we  find  Catherine  on  her 
side  still  cherishing  kindly  remembrances  of  them, 
and  writing  to  them  constantly  in  the  most 
affectionate  terms.  In  her  letters,  written  more 
than  forty  years  later,  when  she  was  Queen  Regent 
of  France,  she  delights  to  recall  the  daily  fife  of 
the  convent,  and  the  beautiful  garden,  with  the 
Arno  flowing  near  it,  which  she  has  not  seen  for 
all  those  years ;  and  lapses  into  poetry  as  she 
speaks  of  the  view  looking  up  the  river,  saying : — 

"  Monti  superbi,  la  cui  fronte  Alpina 
Fa  di  se  contro  i  venti  argine  e  sponda  ! 
Valle  beate,  per  cui  d'onda  in  onda 
L'Arno  con  passo  signoril  caramina  !  "  ^ 

Here  Catherine  spent  the  most  peaceful  time 
of  her  life,  though  even  during  it  there  were 
rough  winds  blowing  round  her  outside  the  walls 
of  the  Murate ;  for  it  was  felt  that  her  death,  as 
the  last  legitimate  offspring  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the   Medici,    was   eminently   desirable    in    the 

^  "  Glorious  mountains^  whose  Alp-like  summits 
Make  against  tlie  winds  a  barrier  and  defence  ! 
Happy  valleys,  through  which  in  wave  on  wave 
The  Arno  with  lordly  step  takes  his  way  ! " 
VOL.  II.  JJ 


1^  (Catherine  de'  medic!  [•^"ar 

interests   of    tlie    Republic.       During   nearly   the 
whole   of  lier   last   year  at  the  convent  the  city 
was  being  besieged  by  the  army  which  her  relative 
the  Pope  had  sent  against  it ;  figliting  took  place 
almost   daily  ;    and  as   men's  passions   grew  more 
inflamed     in    this    fierce    struggle    between     the 
Republic  and  its  enemies,  there  were  not  wanting 
those  who  made  various  disgraceful  proposals  for 
getting   rid  of  this  heiress  of  the  Medici  family, 
and   she   was    aware  that   her   death  was   at  any 
moment    possible.      Once    during    this    period    a 
member  of  the  Republican  Government  proposed 
that  she  should  be  suspended  in  a  basket  from  the 
walls  as  a  target  for  the  enemies'  bullets ;   while 
another   member,^    furious   at  Clement's   conduct, 
suggested  an  even  worse  method  of  disposing  of  her. 
At  last,  in  the  summer  of  1530,  the  Government 
considered  that  Catherine  was  growing  too  popular 
at  the  Murate,  and  that  through  her  presence  there 
a  feeling  favourable  to  the  Medici  was  growing  up 
in  this  important  convent,  which  might  become  a 
cause   of   inconvenient   intrigues ;    they   therefore 
decided  to  remove  her  to  another  abode.     Accord- 
ingly, on  the  20th  July,  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
the  convent   was  aroused  by  a  loud  knocking  at 
the  main  entrance,  with  a  summons  to  open  in  the 
name  of  the  Republic.     The  door  being  opened 
there  appeared  three  senators,  the  senior  of  whom, 
Salvestro  Aldobrandini,  presented  an  order  to  the 
frightened  nuns   to   make   over  to  them  the  girl, 
Catherine   de'   Medici.      A  long  parley  followed, 
Catherine  feeling  certain  that  this  meant  that  she 
was  going  to  be  put  somewhere  where  her  death 

^  Leouardo  Bertolini. 


xix]  FORCE   OF   CHARACTER  19 

could   be   effected,    and   protesting   with    all    her 
might  against  being  given  up  to  thcni.     At  last 
it  was  urged  by  the  nuns  that  she  should,  at  any 
rate,  be  left   alone   until   the   morning ;    and   this 
was  at  length  conceded.     As  soon  as  tiie  senators 
were   gone,    Catherine   cut   off  all    her   hair,    put 
on  the  dress  of  a  nun  of  the  JVlurate,  and,  going 
to  the    Mother    Superior    of   the    convent,    said : 
"  Will   they   dare   now  to  remove  me  when  they 
come  in  the   morning,  and   to    appear  before  the 
eyes  of  the  people  in  the  streets  employed  in  the 
crime   of  forcibly   carrying   off    a   nun   from   her 
convent  ? "     In  the  morning,  therefore,  when  the 
senators  again   arrived,  with   a   horse   for    lier   to 
ride,  Catherine  appeared  thus  dressed  before  them, 
dared  them  to  take  her  away,  and  refused  to  take 
off  the  dress  she  had  assumed.     For  hours  they 
argued,   and  every  persuasion   was   tried   without 
avail ;  "  Catherine  was  adamant ;  the  horse  brought 
for  her  remained  standing  at  the  door  in  the  street ; 
the  struggle  of  wills  continued  within."     At  last 
they  got  her  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  convent,  but 
there  the  senators  said   they  could   not  take  her 
thus  dressed,   and  she  declared  that   if  she  went 
at  all  she  would  go  thus,  and  that  nothing  should 
induce  her  to  change  her  dress.     "  She  refused," 
says    Niccolini,    "with    wonderful    firmness    and 
resolution,  declaring  that  all  the  world  should  see 
that  she  was  a  nun  being  taken  forcibly  from  her 
convent."     In  the  end  she  prevailed,  and  they  had 
to  take  her  with  them  dressed  as  she  was.     They 
escorted  her  (presumably  by  the  least  frequented 
streets)  to  the  convent  of  Sta.  Lucia  in  the  Via 
San  Gallo,  and  this,  they  informed  her,  was  to  be 


20  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

her  new  abode.  The  fact  must  have  been  a  great 
relief  to  Catherine's  mind. 

This  first  recorded  action  of  Catherine's  hfe 
showed  that  she  was  no  ordinary  child ;  of  a  girl 
who  could  exhibit  such  force  of  character  at  the 
age  of  eleven,  it  might  safely  be  predicted  that 
if  she  ever  came  to  a  position  of  independent 
power  she  would  manifest  an  abihty  and  strength 
of  character  equal  to  that  possessed  by  any  of  her 
ancestors.  In  connection  with  the  same  episode, 
we  are  also  given  a  second  indication  of  her 
character ;  for  we  are  told  that  she  felt  last- 
ing gratitude  to  Salvestro  Aldobrandini  for  his 
behaviour  on  this  occasion,  and  the  manner  in 
which,  though  fii-m  to  his  purpose,  he  had  treated 
her  with  politeness  and  consideration.  This  she 
never  forgot.  More  than  twenty  years  afterwards, 
when  their  positions  were  reversed,  she  being  then 
the  powerful  Queen  of  France  and  Aldobrandini  a 
proscribed  heretic  and  outlaw,  sentenced  to  death 
by  the  Pope,  she  exerted  her  influence  and  saved 
his  life.  We  are  told,  "  He  escaped  death  through 
the  intercession  of  the  grateful  Duchessina."  Grati- 
tude preserved  so  long  and  acted  upon  in  this 
fashion  is  rare. 

The  Murate  still  stands,  though  long  since 
abolished  as  a  convent,  and  still  bears  out  its 
name  by  sheltering  "  walled-up  ones " ;  for  it  is 
now  the  great  prison  of  Tuscany.  Its  forbidding 
door  in  the  centre  of  the  high,  grim  wall 
remains  as  w^hen  Catherine  and  the  senators  of 
the  Republic  had  there  that  contest  of  wills,  and 
recalls  the  strange  scene — the  horse  which  had 
been  waiting  before  the  door  for  so  many  hours, 


XIX.]  LIFE   IN   ROME  21 

the  weeping  nuns  within  the  doorway,  afraid  that 
their  Httle  charge  was  being  taken  away  to  be 
murdered,  the  three  senators  striving  to  induce  the 
latter  to  doff  her  offending  attire,  and  in  the  midst 
the  small  figure  in  her  black  dress,  with  pale, 
determined  face,  whom  not  all  their  endeavours 
could  shake. 

Catherine  remained  at  the  convent  in  tlie  Via 
San    Gallo   during   the    remaining   month   of  the 
siege,  until  in  August  1530  the  city  surrendered 
to   the  Pope.       It   does    not   appear   that   in   the 
terms  of  capitulation  the  Republican  Government 
made  any  use  of  the  possession  of  tliis  valuable 
prisoner ;  or,  if  they  did  so,  the  result  became  a 
dead  letter,  like  so  many  other  provisions  of  the 
treaty.     As  soon  as  she  thus  regained  her  liberty, 
Catherine  "flew  back  to  her  beloved  nuns  at  the 
JMurate,"  and  remained  there  until  the  spring  of 
the  following  year  (1531),  when,  it  being  obvious 
that  she   had  better  not  continue  to  reside  in  a 
city  to  which  Alessandro  was  going  to  be  sent  as 
supreme  ruler,  Clement  VII.  sent   for   her  again 
to  Rome,  which  city  she  had  left  as  a  child  of  six. 
Tliere  Catherine  again  met  her  cousin  Ippohto,  by 
this  time  a  general  favourite  in   Rome ;    and   an 
attachment  began  to  grow  up  between  the  girl  of 
twelve  and  the  young  man  of  twenty-two,  which 
might  in  time  have  become  something  stronger  had 
circumstances  permitted  it.     Describing  Catherine 
at  this  time  in  his  reports,  the  Venetian  ambassador 
at  Rome,  Antonio  Suriano,  says  : — "  This  child  has 
a  very  lively  disposition,  and  displays  a  charming 
wit.     She  owes  her  education  to  the  care  of  the 
nuns  of  the  Murate  convent  at  Florence." 


22  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap 

The  subject  of  Catherine's  marriage  now  began 
to  be  debated  at  the  Papal  court.  Among  the 
aspirants  were  the  King  of  Scotland,  the  Duke 
of  Mantua,  and  the  Duke  of  Milan,  while  the 
mutual  regard  between  Catherine  and  her  cousin 
Ippolito  also  led  some  to  talk  of  this  as  the  best 
marriage  for  her.  Infinitely  better  would  it  have 
been  for  Catherine  had  this  been  the  alliance 
chosen ;  but,  as  already  noted,  Clement  VII.  had 
other  views  ;  and  by  December  1532  he  had 
privately  concluded  an  arrangement  witli  Francis  I. 
that  Catherine  should  be  dnarried  to  that  King's 
second  son,  Henry  of  Orleans.  Her  appearance  at 
this  time,  when  she  was  nearly  fourteen,  is  described 
by  the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Rome,  as  "  small 
and  slender,  with  fair  hair,  thin  and  not  pretty  in 
face,  but  with  the  fine  eyes  peculiar  to  all  the 
Medici."  And  he  adds :  "  She  has  a  remarkably 
kind,  gentle,  and  cordial  manner." 

The  marriage  being  thus  settled,  all  the 
arrangements  for  it  w^ere  pushed  on  by  the  Pope 
as  fast  as  possible ;  Catherine  was  allowed  to 
return  for  a  short  time  to  Florence  (where  she 
stayed  again  at  the  Murate  convent,  the  Medici 
Palace  being  occupied  by  Alessandro),  and  was 
told  to  be  ready  to  leave  there  at  the  end  of 
August  to  meet  the  Pope  at  Nice^  and  accompany 
him  thence  to  Marseilles,  where  the  marriage  was 
to  take  place  in  October.  At  this  time  we  have 
an  interesting  glimpse  of  her  from  the  contem- 
porary painter  and  historian,  Vasari,^  who,  when 

^  Clement  himself  went  by  sea  in  order  to  avoid  passing  through 
Florence  (vol.  i.  p.  481,  footnote). 

^  Afterwards  so  well  known  in  the  time  of  Cosimo  I.  as  painter, 
architect,  and  the  histoi-ian  of  the  lives  of  the  painters. 


xrx]  VASARFS  TESTIMONY  23 

she  Wcas  about  to  leave  Florence  never  to  see 
it  again,  writes  thus : — 

"  She  Avell  deserves  that  we  should  wish  to  keep 
her  portrait  among  us  on  account  of  her  kind  and 
amiable  ways.  Her  sweetness  of  disposition  can- 
not be  painted,  and  of  that  my  brush  ^  can  secure 
us  no  memorial." 

These  words  will  seem  strange  to  those  who  have 
no  other  mental  picture  of  Catherine  de'  Medici 
than  the  traditional  one.  But  they  are  written  by 
Vasari  in  a  private  letter  to  an  intimate  friend, 
and  she  who  is  thus  spoken  of  was  removing 
permanently  to  a  distant  country  where  it  was 
not  probable  that  she  would  ever  meet  Vasari 
again.  So  that  there  is  practically  no  doubt  that 
these  praises,  attributing  to  her  a  character  uni- 
versally and  deservedly  liked,  represent  the  truth. 
These  words  of  Vasari,  written  under  such  circum- 
stances, together  with  the  reports  of  the  Venetian 
ambassador  at  Rome,  and  the  estimation  in  which 
she  was  held  at  the  Murate,  where  she  had  so 
long  been  intimately  known,  leave  no  question 
as  to  what  Catherine's  character  was  like  at  the 
time  when  she  arrived  in  France  to  be  married  to 
Henry  of  Orleans. 

Catherine  left  Florence  on  the  2nd  September 
1533,  after  giving  a  farewell  banquet  at  the  Medici 
Palace  to  all  the  noble  ladies  of  Florence,  at  which 
as  a  parting  gift  they  presented  her  with  some 
splendid  embroideries  of  pearls  on  cloth  of  gold. 

^  Evidently  some  portrait  of  her  was  to  be  kept  in  Florence,  and 
Vasari  was  painting  it.     But  this  portrait  has  apparently  been  lost. 


24  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

Tlie  banquet  being  over,  she  left  the  city  at  tliree 
o'clock,  and  rode  to  Poggio  a  Caiano,  where  the 
party  slept  the  first  night.  She  Avas  accompanied 
to  Marseilles  by  Maria  Salviati  (her  father's  first 
cousin),  Caterina  Cibo,  Filippo  Strozzi,  and  Palla 
Rucellai.  The  next  day  they  rode  on  to  Pistoia, 
and  thence  travelled  to  Porto  Venere,  on  the  gulf 
of  Spezia,  where  they  embarked  by  sea  for  Mar- 
seilles, touching  at  Nice  (where  they  met  the  Pope), 
and  reaching  Marseilles  on  the  1 2th  October.  The 
fleet  as  it  approached  the  harbour  of  Marseilles 
was  a  picturesque  sight ;  it  consisted  of  sixty  ships, 
that  conveying  Catherine  having  sails  of  purple 
cloth  embroidered  with  gold,  and  being  followed 
by  that  bearing  the  Pope,  which  was  covered  with 
a  tent  of  cloth  of  gold,  the  deck  being  carpeted 
with  crimson  satin.  On  landing,  a  procession  of 
unusual  splendour  took  place  through  the  city ; 
it  was  headed  by  a  white  horse  with  white  trap- 
pings, bearing  the  Host,  and  led  by  two  equerries 
also  dressed  in  white.  Then  followed  the  Pope, 
conveyed  in  his  chair  borne  on  men's  shoulders,  and 
succeeded  by  a  long  procession  of  bishops  and 
cardinals  on  horseback,  wearing  their  robes ;  and 
lastly  Catherine  herself,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  gold 
brocade,  and  riding  by  the  side  of  her  uncle-in-law, 
John  Stuart,  Duke  of  Albany,  who  had  married  her 
mother's  sister,  Anne.  From  every  balcony  hung 
costly  draperies  of  velvet  and  embroidery,  while 
across  the  streets  were  festooned  countless  garlands 
of  the  deep-coloured  damask  roses  of  Provence 
minorled  with  the  lilies  of  France.  The  two 
palaces  occupied  by  the  Pope  and  the  King  of 
France   were   separated    by   a    street   over   which 


xix]  MARRIAGE   AT   MARSEILLES  25 

was  thrown  a  covered  bridge,  uniting  the  palaces, 
and  made  to  form  a  large  hall,  which  was  hung 
with  costly  tapestries.  In  the  Galleria  degli  Arazzi 
at  Florence  are  to  be  seen  three  rooms  hung  with 
rich  tapestries  depicting  the  festivities  held  on  the 
occasion  of  this  marriage  of  Catherine  ;  these  furnish 
an  interesting  record  of  the  costumes  worn  on  this 
occasion. 

The  marriage  of  Catherine  de'  Medici^  and 
Henry  of  Orleans  took  place  on  the  28th  October 
1533,  in  the  cathedral  of  Marseilles.  The  Pope 
himself  performed  the  ceremony,  and  Catherine, 
who  wore  a  dress  of  white  silk  embroidered  with 
precious  stones,  and  ornaments  of  Florentine  gold 
fihgree-work,  had  round  her  all  the  few  relations 
she  possessed,^  viz.,  the  Pope,  Ippolito  (lately  re- 
turned from  Hungary,  and  dignified  and  courteous 
as  ever,  though  clouded  by  that  permanent  sad- 
ness which  had  come  over  him),  Maria  Salviati, 
and  Caterina  Cibo.  Catherine  was  at  this  time 
in  her  fifteenth  year,  and  Henry  of  Orleans  sixteen. 
The  latter  was  a  dull,  taciturn  youth  ;  the  long 
and  severe  imprisonment  which  he  and  his  elder 
brother  had  undergone  in  Spain,  while  it  had 
ruined  his  brother's  health,  appeared  in  Henry 
to  have  had  the  effect  of  clouding  his  brains ;  and 
he  was   a  complete   contrast   to  his  brilliant  and 

^  In  all  the  State  documents  connected  w  ith  her  marriage  Catherine 
is  always  called  by  the  French  King  and  the  Fi-ench  historians  "  the 
Duchess  of  Urbino,"  wliich  much  irritated  the  real  Duke  of  Urbino. 

^  It  is  sifTuiiicant  that  Alessandro  was  not  present  at  Catherine's 
marriage.  Had  he  really  been  her  linlf-brother  he  would  have  been 
her  nearest  relative,  and  his  presence  at  lier  marriage  almost  im- 
perative. But  Clement  VII.  had  no  intention  of  parading  sucli  a 
connection  as  Alessandro  before  the  eyes  of  the  French  ;  so,  while 
he  insisted  on  Ippolito  being  present^  he  took  good  care  that  Ales- 
sandro should  not  be  so. 


26  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [^hap. 

energetic  father,  Francis  1.,  to  whom  his  second 
son's  heavy  and  inert  character  was  a  constant 
cause  of  irritation  and   contempt. 

At  this  marriage  Pope  Clement  presented  two 
notable  gifts,  both  of  which  have  had  a  remark- 
able history.  To  Catherine  herself  he  gave  seven 
splendid  pearls  of  most  unusual  size ;  and  these 
appear  in  her  picture,  in  the  fi'ont  of  her  crown. ^ 
Twenty-five  years  afterwards  Catherine  gave  these 
pearls  to  her  daughter-in-law,  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  when  the  latter  married  her  eldest  son ; 
and  Mr  Cochrane  mentions  that  Mary  is  repre- 
sented with  them  round  her  neck  in  a  picture  at 
Holyrood  Palace.  When  Elizabeth  put  Mary  to 
death  she  not  only  took  her  life  but  also  stole 
her  jewels,  seizing  upon  these  celebrated  pearls 
which  she  had  always  coveted  ;  they  thus  became 
part  of  the  English  Crown  jewels.  And  after 
having  assisted  at  many  great  historic  functions, 
their  last  public  appearance  was  in  the  year 
1901,  when  at  his  coronation  His  Majesty  King 
Edward  VII.  wore  in  his  crown  the  celebrated 
pearls  which  Catherine  de'  Medici  had  worn  in  hers. 

Clement's  other  present  was  given  to  the  bride's 
father-in-law,  Francis  I.,  and  was  the  well-known 
casket,  made  by  Valerio  Vicentino,  assisted  by  his 
daughter,  and  carved  from  transparent  rock  crystal, 
depicting  twenty-four  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ, 
and  lined  with  silver,  so  as  to  give  an  appearance 
of  relief  to  the  engraving.  It  contained  the  pyx 
in  which  the  Holy  Sacrament  was  placed  on  the 
Thursday  of  Holy  Week,  the  pyx  being  of  fine 
enamel  set  with  rubies.     This  casket  w^as  one  of 

'  See  Plate  XXXIX. 


XIX.]  VICENTINO'S   CRYSTAL   CASKET  27 

the  most  valuable  presents  given  on  that  occasion, 
and  Vicentino  was  paid  two  thousand  gold  crowns 
for  it ;  while  its  value  is  now  priceless.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  it  found  its  way  back  to 
Florence,  and  now  stands  amongst  other  gems 
which  belonged  to  the  Medici  in  the  Gem  Room 
of  the  Uffizi  Gallery ;  though  how  it  got  back  to 
Italy  is  a  mystery.  It  was  placed  by  Catherine, 
during  her  son  Charles  IX. 's  reign,  in  a  cabinet 
in  the  Louvre ;  apparently  it  was  stolen  from  the 
Louvre  during  the  commotions  in  Paris  after  the 
death  of  Henry  III.,  and  the  robber,  feeling  it  un- 
safe to  retain  so  remarkable  an  object  in  France, 
took  it  to  Italy,  where,  after  lying  hidden  for 
some  forty  years,  it  must  have  been  bought  by 
one  of  the  Medici  Grand  Dukes — most  probably 
by  Ferdinand  II. — as  it  suddenly  appears  in  the 
catalogue  of  the  Medici  gems  in  1635,  but  without 
any  record  of  when  or  how  it  had  been  obtained.^ 

Having  thus  followed  Catherine's  history  during 
the  fourteen  years  of  her  girlhood,  we  have  next 
to  look  at  her  during  the  fourteen  years  that  she 
was  the  wife  of  the  French  King's  son,  and  the 
twelve  years  following  them  during  which  her 
husband  and  herself  were  King  and  Queen  of 
France. 

^  Unfortuuately  llio  jit^j;  which  it  coutained  was  stolen  in  18(30. 


28  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

SECOND  PERIOD   (1533-1559) 

Francis  I.  had  many  matters  of  diplomacy  to 
discuss  with  the  Pope,  while  there  were  also 
various  grand  festivities  to  be  got  through  before 
either  of  them  could  leave  Marseilles,  so  that 
it  was  a  whole  month  before  the  King  and  the 
Pope  parted.  Then  Clement  VII.,  with  all  those 
who  had  accompanied  himi,  again  set  sail  for  Italy, 
and  Francis  I.,  with  his  brilhant  court  and  his  new 
daughter-in-law,  started  by  road  for  Avignon  to 
return  to  his  palace  at  Fontainebleau.  Catherine 
now  found  herself  in  an  entirely  new  kind  of  life ;  it 
was  Francis's  custom  to  be  continually  changing  his 
residences,  and  the  Venetian  ambassador,  Marino 
Giustiniano,  who  was  ambassador  to  France  from 
1532  to  1535,  says  : — "  Never,  during  my  embassy, 
did  the  court  remain  in  the  same  place  for  more  than 
fifteen  consecutive  days."  Catherine  shared  in  these 
constant  flittings,  and  by  these  journeyings  from 
city  to  city,  performed  always  on  horseback,  she  in 
a  very  short  time  saw  a  large  part  of  France. 

We  now  obtain  accounts  of  what  Catherine 
was  like,  both  in  appearance  and  character,  from 
a  new  group  of  observers,  viz.,  from  a  fresh  set 
of  Venetian  ambassadors  (those  accredited  to  the 
court  of  France),  and  from  those  French  writers 
who  saw  her  at  the  court  at  this  time.  The 
former  describe  her  as  "full  of  vivacity,  affable, 
and  distinguished  in  her  manners " ;  while  the 
French  writer,  Brantome  (who  was  then  at  the 
court),  describing  the  new  bride,  says : — 

*'  Her  appearance  is  dignified,  but  at  the  same 
time  gracious ;  her  expression  is  pleasing,  and  her 


xix]  NEW   SURROUNDINGS  29 

taste  in  dress  excellent ;  she  has  a  fine  figure,  a 
white  complexion,  small  feet,  very  well-shaped 
hands,  and  a  particularly  beautiful  voice." 

We  are  also  told  that  she  rode  remarkably  well, 
w^as  fond  of  an  outdoor  life,  and  had  unusually 
good  health. 

Francis  I.  was  himself  brilliant  and  cultivated ; 
of  him  the  Venetian  ambassador,  Marino  Cavalli, 
says : — "  Listening  to  him  one  recognises  that  tliere 
is  neither  study  nor  art  which  he  cannot  discuss 
with  much  knowledge.  .  .  .  His  attainments  are 
not  limited  to  war,  but  include  also  literature, 
painting,  and  the  languages." 

Francis  soon  discovered  that  his  new  daughter- 
in-law  was  of  a  livelier  wit  and  more  highly 
educated  than  most  of  the  ladies  of  his  court, 
and  that  her  bonhomie  and  cleverness  made  her 
an  agreeable  companion ;  while  her  love  of  hunt- 
ing and  other  field  sports  chimed  in  with  his  own 
strong  passion  for  the  chase.  So  he  insisted  on 
her  accompanying  him  on  all  occasions,  and 
Catherine  was  soon  admitted  into  the  charmed 
circle  of  his  Petite  Bande,  those  sparkling  and 
joyous  spirits  who,  like  a  corps  of  feminine  aides- 
de-camp,  accompanied  Francis  in  his  progresses 
from  palace  to  palace :  from  forest  -  encircled 
Fontainebleau  to  his  proud  castle  of  Amboise  by 
the  silvery  Loire  (where  Catherine's  father  and 
mother  had  been  married  soon  after  Francis  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne),  and  from  his  sumptuous 
palace  of  Les  Tournelles  in  Paris  to  what  is  now 
to  us  tragedy  -  haunted  Blois,  but  whose  richly 
decorated  chambers  then  resounded  with  the 
laughter    and    espicgierie    of   the    Petite    Bande. 


30  CATHEUINi:    DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

This  friendship  on  the  part  of  the  King,  though 
a  vahiable  help  to  Catherine  in  her  new  and 
difficult  position  (and  especially  when  three  years 
later  her  enemies  found  a  heavy  charge  to  bring 
against  her),  naturally  tended  to  arouse  court 
jealousy.  However,  Catherine  was  wise  enough 
to  bear  herself  with  proper  humility,  knowing  well 
how  many  causes  for  dissatisfaction  the  French 
had  against  her.  We  see  a  glimpse  of  these 
latter  in  the  report  of  the  Venetian  ambassador, 
Giustiniano,  about  this  time  which  says : — 

"  INI.  d'Orleans  is  married  to  Madame  Catherine 
de'  Medici,  which  dissatisfies  the  entire  nation.  It 
is  thought  that  Pope  Clement  deceived  the  King 
in  this  alliance.  However,  his  niece  is  very 
submissive." 

But  except  for  the  French  King  himself  Catherine 
had  not  a  friend  in  France,  and  her  position  was 
most  difficult.  Not  only  was  the  marriage  highly 
unpopular  with  both  nobles  and  people,  and  she 
herself  hated  as  a  bourgeoise  Italian  long  before 
the  French  had  ever  seen  her,  but  added  to  this 
her  relative,  Pope  Clement,  had  increased  the  feel- 
ing against  her  by  failing  to  keep  his  promises. 
At  Marseilles  Catherine  had  been  talked  of  as 
bringing  to  the  French  Crown  "three  rings," 
Genoa,  Milan,  and  Naples.  But  Clement,  when 
once  the  marriage  was  effected  and  he  had  got 
back  to  Italy,  had  done  nothing  to  assist  the 
French  Crown  to  gain  any  one  of  these  dominions. 
And  when  in  the  following  year  (1534)  the  Pope 
died,  and  Catherine  was  left  without  even  such 
support  as  he  afforded  her,  the  feeling  against  her 
became   intensified.     Nor  was   this   all ;    to  these 


xix]  HER   ISOLATED   CONDITION  31 

misfortunes  on  public  grounds  was  added  a  more 
private  one.  Catherine's  husband,  Henry,  at  that 
time  a  dull,  sheepish,  and  gloomy  youth  of  whom 
his  father  could  make  notliing,  and  who  on  his 
return  from  his  captivity  in  Spain  three  years 
before  had  forgotten  his  own  language,  disliked 
her  from  the  first,  her  brilliancy  and  cleverness 
only  making  his  own  want  of  ability  the  more 
noticeable.  So  that  the  prospect  before  Catherine 
M^as  not  a  bright  one :  in  a  foreign  country,  dis- 
liked by  her  husband,  hated  by  the  Frencii  nation, 
despised  as  a  low-born  foreigner,  and  with  enemies 
all  around  watching  for  an  opportunity  of  bringing 
some  charge  against  her  which  would  enable  France 
to  get  rid  of  her. 

In  153.5,  two  years  after  her  marriage,  Catherine 
heard  of  the  tragic  death  of  her  cousin  Tppolito, 
basely  poisoned  by  the  hated  Alessandro.  It  must 
have  been  a  severe  blow  to  her,  as  he  was  not 
only  a  cousin  to  whom  she  was  much  attached, 
but  also  almost  her  last  living  relative.  Seldom 
has  any  one  been  left  at  her  age  so  absolutely 
alone  in  the  world ;  her  aunt  Clarice  (her  father  s 
only  sister)  was  long  since  dead;  her  distant 
relative,  Pope  Clement,  had  died  in  the  previous 
year ;  and  now  her  only  cousin,  Ippolito,  being 
also  gone,  she  had  no  living  relations  at  all,  except 
her  father's  first  cousin,  Maria  Salviati,  who  after 
Catherine's  marriage  had  practically  retired  from 
the  world.  Catherine's  isolated  state  in  this 
respect  naturally  much  increased  the  difficulty 
of  her  position,  as  she  was  thus  without  that 
powerful  support  of  influential  relations  which 
others  in  hke  cases  have  generally  possessed.     So 


33  CATHERINE  BE'   MEDICt  [chap 

that  this  girl  of  sixteen,  confronted  by  so  many 
adverse  conditions,  had  nothing  but  her  own 
abiUty  and  strength  of  character  upon  which  to 
depend. 

In  August  1536,  when  she  had  been  married 
nearly  three  years,  her  husband's  elder  brother, 
the  Dauphin  Francis,  who,  ever  since  his  harsh 
confinement  in  Spain  as  a  boy,  had  continued  in 
weak  health,^  died  suddenly  at  Tournon.  This 
death  of  his  eldest  son  was  a  terrible  blow  to 
Francis  I.,  all  whose  affection  was  centred  on  the 
Dauphin.  On  hearing  at  Lyons  that  he  was  ill, 
the  King  at  once  prepared  to  go  to  him,  when, 
just  as  he  was  starting,  came  the  news  of  his 
death.  And  we  have  a  vivid  picture  drawn  of 
the  King's  grief,  and  of  how  on  receiving  the 
terrible  news  he  knelt  at  the  window  of  his 
palace,  before  the  whole  people,  who  deeply 
sympathised  with  him,  and  prayed  for  his  son, 
for  his  people,  and  for  himself. 

It  was,  of  course,  immediately  said  by  almost  the 
whole  nation  that  the  Dauphin  Francis  had  been 
poisoned  by  "the  Italian  woman,"  in  order  that 
her  husband  might  become  the  heir  to  the  throne. 
There  has  never  been  found  a  single  particle  of 
foundation  for  the  charge,  and  every  historian  con- 
siders it  was  simply  due  to  the  national  prejudice 
asfainst  Catherine.  The  accusation  was  not  even 
based  on  unpopularity  arising  from  any  conduct 
of  her  own ;  for  she  had  been  too  short  a  time 
in  France,  and  too  little  prominent  publicly,  to 
be   much   known   by   the   people.     However,  the 

^  See  vol.  i.  p.  602  (footnote). 


XIX.]  DEATH    OF  THE   DAUPHIN  33 

charge  was  investigated  ;  the  Dauphin's  cup-bearer, 
MontecucuUi,  was  accused  of  having  been  the 
agent,  and  was  tortured  to  make  him  reveal  by 
whom  he  had  been  employed  to  commit  the  crime 
asserted  ;  and  under  torture,  so  far  from  implicating 
Catherine  in  any  way,  he  declared  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  crime, 
and  adhered  to  this  even  at  his  execution.  It  is, 
however,  believed  that  this  was  almost  certainly 
equally  untrue,  and  it  has  been  pointed  out  that 
"a  dubious  testimony  uttered  under  the  anguish 
of  torture  is  far  less  credible  than  the  cause 
assigned  by  the  most  unprejudiced  historians, 
viz.,  that  the  Dauphin,  who  was  of  a  sickly 
constitution,  died  of  having  drunk  too  freely  of 
cold  water  after  over-heating  himself  at  tennis, 
and  not  of  poison  at  all."  In  any  case,  there  is 
admitted  to  have  been  no  ground  for  the  accusa- 
tion against  Catherine.  But  when  a  prejudice 
once  exists  everything  that  occurs  strengthens  it, 
and  even  the  result  of  Montecuculli's  trial  did 
not  cause  the  people  to  lay  aside  their  suspicion 
against  her.  Francis  I.,  however,  in  spite  of  his 
grief,  did  not  share  this  view,  and  after  the  death 
of  the  Dauphin  lavished  every  kindness  upon  her, 
as  though  desiring  to  compensate  for  the  unjust 
suspicion  of  his  subjects. 

This  event  changed  very  materially  Catherine's 
position  and  prospects.  Hitherto  she  and  her 
husband  had  liad  no  higher  destiny  to  anticipate 
tlian  that  of  becoming  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Milan  or  some  similar  state  whenever  the  contest 
between  Francis   I.  and   Charles  V.   should  come 

VOL.  II.  c 


34  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

to  an  end.  Now,  however,  they  would  in  due 
course  become  King  and  Queen  of  PYance.  But 
this,  though  it  promoted  Catherine  to  a  higher 
dignity  and  greater  importance  at  the  French 
court  than  hitherto,  by  no  means  improved  her 
position  in  other  ways.  For  the  wound  given  to 
the  French  by  her  marriage,  grievous  when  she 
was  merely  marrying  the  second  son  of  their 
King,  was  greatly  increased  by  her  now  becoming 
the  Dauphine,  wife  of  the  heir  to  the  throne. 

Each  year  seemed  to  bring  some  fresh  increase 
to   the  difficulties  of  Catherine's  position  and  the 
sorrow  of  her  lot.     When  in  the  first  year  after 
the   marriage   Pope   Clement,    her    chief  bulwark 
against   French    disfavour,   died ;    when    again   in 
the  following   year  the  cousin  she  had  been  fond 
of  was  murdered,  and  she  was  left  alone   in  the 
world ;    and   when   again    in   the   third   year   the 
French  people  persisted  in  accusing  her  of  having 
poisoned  her  brother-in-law  notwithstanding  every 
evidence  of  her   innocence,  each  of  these  things 
added  yet  another  drop  to   a  cup  which  was  an 
unusually  bitter   one   to   be   drunk   by   a   girl   of 
seventeen.     And   now  there  began  a  still  harder 
trial,   one   which   was   to    last   for   twenty    years. 
About  the   year  1540,  when  he  was  twenty-two, 
her  taciturn  young  husband,  Henry,  fell  completely 
under   the   dominion   of  Diane   de   Poictiers,  the 
beautiful  widow   of  the  Seneschal  of  Normandy. 
She   ruled  him   entirely,  becoming  the  leader   of 
the  party  of  the  Dauphin  at  the  court  (in  opposi- 
tion to  the  party  of  the  King,  \vliich  was  led  by 
the  Duchesse  d'Etampes),  while  Catherine  had  to 
stand  aside  and  see  herself  put  in  every  way  in 


XIX. ]  HER  PORTRAIT  AT  TWENTY-ONE  35 

the  background,  openly  insulted  by  Diane  de 
Poictiers  (who  took  every  opportunity  of  showing 
her  affronts),  and  neglected  by  Henry,  who  spent 
most  of  his  time  at  Diane's  great  estate  of  Anet. 
Catherine  bore  it  in  silence  and  with  excellent  tact 
(which  was  remarked  upon  with  approval  even  by 
Francis  I.,  who  was  greatly  irritated  by  his  son's 
treatment  of  her) ;  but  the  way  the  iron  entered 
into  her  soul  is  disclosed  by  her  letters  long 
afterwards  to  her  favourite  daughter,  in  one  or 
two  touching  allusions  to  this  sorrow  borne  for 
years  in  silence. 

About  this  time  a  fashionable  craze  for  Protes- 
tantism set  in  at  the  French  court.  One  out- 
come of  this  was  a  passion  for  Marot's  French 
psalms,  and  each  person  was  to  be  heard  singing 
his  or  her  favourite  one  on  all  occasions.  We 
are  told  that  Catherine  took  a  particular  affection 
for  one  beginning  "  Vers  I'Eternel,  des  oppresses 
le  Pere,"  which  was  for  ever  on  her  lips,  and  no 
doubt  appealed  to  her  in  consequence  of  her 
husband's  coldness  and  neglect,  and  the  prejudice 
against  her  evinced  by  the  French  people. 

The  portrait  of  Catherine,^  painted  at  this  time, 
when  she  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  is  that 
which  has  always  been  the  picture  of  her  preserved 
in  her  own  family.  Though  not  possessing  beauty, 
she  has  a  fine  intelligent  face,  with  the  Medici 
eyes,  a  broad  forehead,  and  fair  hair,  the   picture 

^  Plate  XXXIX.  {Frontispiece).  Tliree  portraits  of  Catherine  are  given 
in  this  book,  one  tliat  at  the  Villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano^  taken  when 
she  was  about  twenty-one,  a  second  (Plate  XL.)  taken  when  she  was 
about  thirty-twoj  and  a  third  (Plate  XLI.)  taken  when  she  was  about 
forty. 


36  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

thus  agreeing  exactly  with  the  descriptions  of  her 
given  by  Suriano,  Vasari,  and  others  at  this  time.^ 
This  portrait  of  her  was  permanently  kept  by  the 
Medici  family  with  their  other  family  portraits  in 
their  principal  villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano,  where  it 
and  they  still  hang.  The  villa  and  its  contents 
passed  from  the  Medici  Grand  Dukes  to  their 
successors,  the  Austrian  Grand  Dukes,  and  from 
the  latter  to  the  King  of  Italy,  being  now  the 
royal  villa  in  Tuscany.  Although  the  painter's 
name  has  been  lost,  the  crown,  the  historic  pearls, 
the  agreement  with  the  descriptions  of  contem- 
porary writers,  and  above  all  the  locality  in  which 
the  portrait  has  always  been  preserved,  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  its  authentic  character.  Painted  for 
Catherine  in  France  by  an  Italian  artist,  it  was 
most  probably  sent  by  her  as  a  present  to  her 
relative,  Cosimo  I.,  at  the  time  of  his  marriage 
in  1539  to  Eleonora  di  Toledo. 

In  1542  another  trouble  came  upon  Catherine. 
Now  twenty-three,  she  had  been  married  for  nine 
years  and  had  no  children.  This  was  not  only 
the  sorrow  it  would  in  any  case  have  been,  but 
also  it  increased  very  materially  the  opportunity 
of  those  who  had  always  desired  to  see  her  put 
away,  and  the  slur  upon  the  honour  of  France 
removed.  Diane  de  Poictiers  did  not  fail  to  find 
here  another  occasion  for  wounding  the  neglected 

*  All  the  accounts  of  Catherine's  appearance  in  her  girlhood  and 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  mention  that  she  had  fair  hair.  This 
she  inherited  from  her  mother,  Madeleine  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne. 
Later  on  in  her  life  black  or  dark  hair  became  greatly  in  fashion  in 
France  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  when  this  occurred  she  dyed  her  hair 
dark  to  accord  with  the  prevailing  fashion.  This  would  account  for 
the  discrepancy  in  this  particular  between  her  earlier  portraits  and 
her  later  ones  by  Clouet  and  others  in  France. 


XIX.]  A   FRESH   TROUBLE  87 

wife  whom  she  hated ;  this  she  did  by  making  a 
sneering  allusion  to  Francis  I.  on  the  subject  in 
the  hearing  of  those  who,  she  knew,  would  repeat 
it  to  Catherine.  This  was  followed  by  a  sort  of 
family  conclave  at  which  the  matter  was  formally 
discussed ;  and  at  this  Diane,  strange  to  say,  was 
also  present,  and  deliberately  urged  upon  the  King 
that  Catherine  ought  to  be  divorced  ;  to  which 
Francis  I.  was  reported  to  have  agreed,  as  being 
inevitable.  At  this  time  only  one  person  showed 
any  kindness  to  Catherine ;  moved  by  pity  for 
the  many  things  she  had  to  bear,  Marguerite 
of  Angouleme,  Queen  of  Navarre,  Francis  I.'s 
deservedly  beloved  sister,  wrote  to  Catlierine  to 
comfort  her,  telling  her,  "  My  brother  will  never 
allow  this  repudiation,  as  evil  tongues  pretend." 
Reassured  by  this  sympathy,  Catherine  went  to 
Francis  I.  and  offered  to  resign  her  husband  and 
enter  a  convent,  if  he  willed  it.  The  Venetian 
ambassador,  Lorenzo  Contarini,  in  his  report, 
says  : — 

"She  went  to  the  King  and  with  many  tears 
told  him  she  had  heard  it  was  His  Majesty's  inten- 
tion to  give  his  son  another  wife,  and  as  it  had 
not  yet  pleased  God  to  bestow  on  her  the  grace 
of  having  children,  it  was  proper  that  as  soon  as 
His  Majesty  found  it  undesirable  to  wait  longer, 
he  should  provide  for  the  succession  to  so  great 
a  throne ;  that,  for  her  part,  considering  the  great 
obligation  she  was  under  to  His  Majesty,  who 
had  deigned  to  accept  her  as  a  daughter-in-law, 
she  was  much  more  disposed  to  endure  this  aflhc- 
tion  than  to  attempt  to  oppose  his  will." 

Francis  bade  her  have   no   fear,  and   assured  her 


38  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [cha>. 

that  he  would  not  allow  her  to  be  put  away. 
And  in  the  following  year  this  particular  trouble 
was  removed  from  Catherine  by  the  birth  of  a 
son,  born  at  Fontainebleau,  who  was  named  Francis 
after  his  grandfather.  Between  1.543  and  1555  she 
had  ten  children ;  three  of  these  died  in  infancy, 
but  of  the  remaining  seven,  four  were  sons,  three 
of  whom  (Francis,  Charles,  and  Henry)  in  turn 
sat  on  the  throne  of  France,  and  three  daughters, 
Elizabeth,  who  married  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  Claude, 
who  married  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  Marguerite, 
who  married  Henry  of  Navarre. 

In  1547,  when  Catherine  was  twenty-eight,  and 
had  been  married  fourteen  years,  Francis  I.  died, 
and  her  husband  became  Henry  II.  of  France.^ 
This  intensified  for  Catherine  both  of  the  evils 
which  she  had  borne  so  long  in  prudent  and 
dignified  silence,  but  with  an  aching  heart.  The 
supposed  insult  to  France  in  her  person,  great  at 
her  marriage,  and  greater  still  when  she  became 
the  Dauphine,  seemed  to  the  French  greatest  of 
all  now  that  she  was  Queen  of  France  ;  conse- 
quently her  unpopularity  with  the  people  became 
more  pronounced  than  ever. 

But  still  more  than  this  did  Henry's  exaltation 
to  the  throne  increase  that  which  was  the  chief 
sorrow  of  Catherine's  life.  Henry  was  now  twenty- 
nine,  and  no  longer  dull  and  stupid  as  he  had 
been  as  a  youth.  Though  often  given  to  depression, 
and  fonder  of  hunting  and  pleasure  than  of  attend- 
ing to  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  his  character  had 
strengthened  and  improved  ;  and  Catherine  secretly 

^  Plate  XL.     Heury  II.  aud  Catherine,  by  Clouet. 


PLATK    XL, 


Hl.NKN      II.     AM)     (  A  IIIKHINK. 
Itv  (  IniK't. 


Biirton] 


[I'itli  Galtery. 


"X.]  DIANE   DE   POICTIERS  39 

loved  him  intensely,  though  he  did  not  in  the  least 
return  her  affection.  It  is  the  opinion  of  all 
authorities  that  the  one  real  passion  of  Catherine's 
life  was  for  Henry ;  but  he  himself  (stated  by  one 
of  the  Protestant  writers  of  the  time  to  be  "  in- 
toxicated by  that  baggage,  Diane ")  never  either 
appreciated  it,  or  was  even  aware  of  it.  And  his 
accession  began  the  great  triumph  of  "Diane  de 
Poictiers,  the  beautiful  huntress,  she  whom  Jean 
Goujon  has  sculptured,  nude  and  triumphant, 
embracing  with  marble  arms  a  mysterious  stag, 
enamoured  like  Leda's  swan ;  Diane  de  Poictiers, 
the  wondrous  woman  of  eternal  youth,  the  elderly 
Alcina,  who,  to  charm  a  youthful  Roger,  has  dis- 
covered the  fountain  of  youth  ;  Diane  de  Poic- 
tiers, whom  Primaticcio's  frescoes  at  Fontainebleau 
sometimes  represent  as  the  luminous  Queen  of 
Night,  and  sometimes  as  a  sombre  Hecate  sur- 
rounded by  eternal  fires."  ^  Henry's  accession  to 
the  throne  gave  opportunity  to  Diane  to  show  all 
her  power  over  him ;  and  this  in  a  manner  which 
in  no  other  age  or  country  would  have  been 
possible.  Though  she  was  forty-eight  and  Henry 
only  twenty-nine,  his  infatuation  for  her  was  such 
that  he  entirely  resigned  to  her  both  himself  and 
his  kingdom ;  a  surrender  so  complete  that  his 
contemporaries  credited  Diane  with  the  possession 
of  an  enchanted  ring  or  some  other  magic  power. 

"  We  are  not  in  a  natural  world.  This  is  an 
enchantment ;  and  it  can  only  be  carried  out  by 
violent  spells  and  dramatic  strokes.  The  Armida 
of  fifty  years,  who  holds  a  king  of  thirty  in  bonds, 
must  daily  use  her  magic  wand."^ 

'    Women  of  the  Valois  Court,  by  Imbert  de  Saint-Ainand. 
^  Guerres  de  religion,  by  Michelet. 


4.0  CATHERINE  J)E'  MEDICI  [chap. 

Henry  exalted  fidelity  to  her  into  a  virtue  ;  all 
his  leisure  hours  were  spent  with  her ;  and  at  her 
estate  at  Anet,  "  In  thickets  of  myrtle  and  roses, 
amidst  statues,  fountains,  and  gushing  springs,  in 
the  depths  of  dark  and  game-abounding  forests, 
the  King  leads  an  enchanted  existence." 

Catherine  had  none  of  those  attractions  which 
her  rival  so  potently  possessed.  Her  charms  were 
those  of  intellect  only  ;  and  though  these  had  been 
strong  enough  to  greatly  please  her  husband's 
capable  father,  Francis  I.,  they  had  no  power  to 
attract  the  duller  nature  of  Henry.  Thus  there 
now  began  for  Catherine  a  twelve  years'  torment, 
self-repression  being  her  hourly  task.  Diane  de 
Poictiers,  created  by  Henry  Duchess  of  Valentinois, 
practically  ruled  all  things.  At  Henry's  coronation 
she  occupied  the  chief  place ;  even  the  special 
taxes  levied  on  the  accession  of  a  new  king  were 
bestowed  upon  her  ;  she  disposed  of  all  offices,  both 
secular  and  ecclesiastical ;  she  absorbed  lands  and 
wealth  in  every  direction  ;  while  Catherine  was  left 
to  live  at  the  gloomy  castle  of  Chaumont,^  Diane's 
splendid  residences  of  Anet  and  Chenonceaux  were 
made  by  her  almost  regal  in  magnificence ;  the  Guises 
(the  six  sons  of  Claude,  Duke  of  Guise),^  at  this 
time  her  faithful  vassals,  were  promoted  to  all  the 
chief  offices  in  the  kingdom ;   and  no  meeting  of 


^  At  CliJ.umont  may  still  be  seen  her  bedroom^  with  her  bed^  toilet 
table,  and  prie  dieu,  with  on  the  latter  her  "  Book  of  the  Hours."  In 
this  book  are  prayers  for  various  persons,  each  with  a  miniature  of  the 
person  prayed  for,  and  prayers  to  God  to  "  have  mercy  on  this  country 
over  which  Thou  hast  permitted  me  to  rule,  and  deal  not  punishment 
upon  it  on  account  of  wrongdoing's  of  mine." 

^  Francis,  the  eldest  son,  succeeded  his  father  as  Duke  of  Guise. 
His  brother  Charles  became  Cardinal  of  Lorraine.  Tlie  third  son, 
Claude^  Duke  of  Mayenne,  was  married  to  Diane  de  Poictiers'  daughter 


XIX.-]  VEILED  INSULTS  41 

his  council  was  attended  by  Henry  until  he  had 
first  discussed  with  Diane  the  matters  to  be 
brought  before  it. 

While  such  was  the  position  with  regard  to 
Henry  and  Diane,  Catherine  the  Queen  had  to 
lead  a  retired,  self-contained  existence,  making 
herself  as  little  obtrusive  as  possible,  careful  over 
every  word  and  look  lest  she  should  give  oppor- 
tunity to  those  Avho  watched  for  grounds  on  which 
she  might  be  accused  of  some  crime  and  got  rid 
of.  She  had  to  see  her  ability  shrouded  and 
given  no  opportunity  for  exercise,  her  rightful 
position  usurped  by  a  woman  twenty  years  older 
than  herself,  and  far  less  talented,  her  birth  and 
family  scorned  and  ridiculed,^  her  advice  never 
sought  by  her  husband,  and  herself  despised  and 
insulted  by  a  court  and  people  who  took  their 
cue  from  him.  Moreover,  Diane  de  Poictiers 
"  delighted  in  devising  constant  slights  and  veiled 
insults 2  against  the  'Italian  woman.'"  While 
perhaps  more  galling  still  was  her  insisting,  when 
Catherine's  children  were  born,  in  installing  her- 
self as  head  nurse,  and  as  M.  Georges  Guiffrey 
says,^  "  Monopolising  the  cradles,  and  settling  all 
questions  regarding  the  newly  born,"  taking  entire 

^  Diane  de  Poictiers  taught  the  little  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  to  call 
Catherine  behind  her  back,  '^  La  fille  de  marchands^"  and  was  never 
tired  of  making  joking  allusions  to  this  topic.  It  was  at  this  period 
that  to  please  Diane  the  wits  of  Paris  invented  the  fable  that  tlie  Medici 
were  originally  doctors  (or  rather  apothecaries),  and  that  tlioir  family 
arms,  the  six  balls,  represented  the  pills  they  made  ;  an  ill-natured  joke 
which  has  had  a  longer  lifo  tlian  it  deserved. 

"  There  were  a  few  wlio  pitied  Catlierine  and  were  indignant  at  the 
treatment  she  received.  On  one  occasion  Mare'chal  Tavannes,  incensed 
at  the  insults  so  constantly  sliown  her,  made  an  offer  to  Catlierine  to 
cut  off  tlie  nose  of  the  Duchess  of  V'alentinois,  which  would,  he  said, 
put  an  end  to  all  Catherine's  troubles  on  this  score. 

^  Lettres  de  Diane  de  Poictiers,  edited  by  M.  Georges  Guiffrey. 


42  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

management  of  everything,  nursing  Catherine, 
receiving  letters  from  the  court  physicians  compH- 
menting  her  upon  her  care  over  the  Queen,  and 
from  Henry  a  salary  "  on  account  of  the  good, 
praiseworthy,  and  agreeable  services  she  hath 
rendered  to  our  dear  and  much  loved  companion, 
the  Queen."  And  yet  when  Catherine's  son 
Charles  was  born  (1550),  Henry  left  the  Queen 
three  days  after  his  son's  birth,  and  went  to  stay 
at  Anet  with  Diane,  an  act  which  even  in  those 
days  was  considered  an  unexampled  breach  of 
royal  etiquette. 

The  above  shows  us  a  state  of  things  such  as 
could  have  occurred  only  in  France,  and  at  that 
period.  At  first  sight  we  are  inclined  to  wonder 
how  Catherine  could  have  endured  all  this.  But 
that  which  caused  its  chief  bitterness  was  at  the 
same  time  that  which  enabled  her  to  endure  it, 
viz.,  that  through  it  all  she  had  a  strong  passion 
of  love  for  her  husband.  It  was  this  which  caused 
Catherine  to  endure  all  these  things  without  show- 
ing a  sign.  Strange  as  this  fact  may  seem,  we  have 
it  vouched  for  by  two  unimpeachable  witnesses, 
viz.,  by  those  observant  onlookers,  the  Venetian 
ambassadors,  and  by  her  own  letters  years  after- 
wards.    The  ambassador,   Contarini,  writes : — 

"  At  the  opening  of  the  reign  the  Queen  could 
not  endure  this  love  of  the  King  for  the  Duchess ; 
but  later,  by  reason  of  the  urgent  prayers  of  the 
King,  she  resigned  herself,  and  now  she  bears  it 
with  patience." 

It  was  because  Catherine  loved  Henry  so  strongly, 
and  knew  that  the  only  way  by  which  she  could 
retain  even  such  small  portion  of  his  regard  as  she 


XIX.]  CATHERINE'S   LONG   TRIAL  43 

possessed,  was  to  endure  uncomplainingly  all  that 
such  a  position  entailed,  that  she  patiently,  and 
without  ever  once  reproaching  him,  bore  for  twelve 
years  a  combination  of  exasperating  mortifications 
such  as  would  have  driven  most  women  into 
furious  resentment.  In  the  latter  case  the  court 
would  have  been  turned  into  the  same  state  of 
disgraceful  turmoil  as  residted  when,  about  sixty 
years  later,  the  same  conditions  caused  Marie  de' 
Medici  to  resent  the  conduct  of  her  husband, 
Henry  IV.^  The  behaviour  of  a  weak  character 
when  placed  in  such  circumstances  is  exemplified 
by  Marie,  that  of  a  strong  one  by  Catherine ;  and 
severe  though  the  trial  was,  the  latter  reaped  her 
reward,  not  only  in  the  respect  which  she  earned 
from  many  for  the  manner  in  which  she  bore  it, 
as  well  as  the  satisfaction  to  herself  in  preserving 
the  court  from  scenes  similar  to  those  afterwards 
witnessed  in  Marie's  case,  but  also  in  retaining  a 
certain  portion  of  her  husband's  regard.^  And 
there  is  considerable  dignity  in  the  way  in  which, 
years  afterwards,  she  makes,  in  writing  to  her 
eldest  daughter  Elizabeth,  then  Queen  of  Spain, 
the  only  direct  mention  of  this  trial  which  she 
ever  permitted  to  pass  her  lips ;  as  well  as  in  the 
terms  in  which  on  another  occasion  she  wrote  to 
reprove  her  son-in-law,  Henry  of  Navarre,  for  his 
infidelities  to  his  wife.  At  the  time  when  the 
Regency  of  the  kingdom  had  just  devolved  upon 
her,  and  when  she  was  oppressed  by  many  heavy 
cares,  she  writes  to  her  daughter  Elizabeth,  about 
two  years  after  the  latter's  marriage,  as  follows : — 
"  3Tamie,    commend    yourself    very    much    to 

^  See  chap.  xxvi.  pp.  361-352.  *  Page  49. 


44  CATHERINE  DE^  MEDICI  [ohap. 

God ;  for  you  have  seen  me  in  former  days  as 
contented  as  you  are  now,  and  believing  that  I 
should  never  have  any  trouble  but  this  one  that 
I  was  not  loved  in  the  way  I  wished  by  the  King, 
your  father,  who  doubtless  honoured  me  beyond 
my  deserts ;  but  I  loved  him  so  much  that  I  was 
always  afraid  of  offending  him,  as  you  know  well 
enough.  And  now  God  has  taken  him  from 
me.  .  .  .  Therefore  think  of  me,  and  let  me 
serve  as  a  warning  to  you  not  to  trust  too  much 
in  the  love  of  your  husband."^ 

Writing  towards  the  end  of  her  life  to  Henry 
of  Navarre,  she  says : — 

"  My  son,  I  was  never  in  my  life  so  dumb- 
founded as  when  I  heard  the  words  which 
Frontenac  has  been  reporting  everywhere  as  being 
those  which  you  ordered  him  to  convey  to  your 
wife.  .  .  .  You  are  not,  I  know,  the  first  husband 
who  is  young  and  not  too  wise  in  such  matters, 
but  I  believe  that  you  are  the  first,  and  the  only 
one,  who  after  such  events  would  venture  on  such 
language  to  his  wife.  I  had  the  honour  of  marry- 
ing the  King,  my  lord  and  your  sovereign,  whose 
daughter  you  have  married,  but  the  thing  which 
vexed  him  most  in  the  world  was  after  he  found 
out  that  I  knew  about  such  doings."^ 

These  letters  shed  a  flood  of  light  on  Catherine's 
character ;  but  apart  from  this,  the  two  allusions 
to  Henry  II.  which  they  contain  show  very  plainly 
why  it  was  that  Catherine  deliberately  endured  in 
silence  for  twelve  years  the  heavy  trial  wliich  has 
been  mentioned,  and  at  the  same  time  how  deeply 

^  Lettres  de,  Catherine  de   Medicis,    edited  by  Count   Hector  de  la 
Ferriere  and  G.  Baguenault  de  Puchesse  (1903). 
'^  Idem. 


xix]  A    PUBLIC    AFFRONT  45 

she  felt  it,  since  the  memory  of  it  remained  with 
her  so  many  years  afterwards. 

But  Diane  de  Poictiers  did  not  confine  herself 
to   affronts   in    connection   with    private   matters. 
From  1552  to  1558    France   was   at  war  both    in 
Germany  and    Italy,  and  when    Henry  proceeded 
on  the  German  campaign  Diane  contrived  a  severe 
public  indignity  to  Catherine  by  persuading  him 
not  to  give  the  Regency  during  his  absence  to  the 
Queen,  thou<]^h  this  course  had  always  been  usual 
in  such  cases.     The   insult  was   the   more   severe 
in  that   Catherine  was   by   far   the   most   capable 
person  at  the  court ;   that  she  felt  it  severely  we 
know   both  from   her   letters   and   her   speech   on 
the  occasion ;  while  it  did  her  the  greatest  harm 
with   the    people,   loM^ering    her    greatly   in   their 
estimation  and  increasing  their  long-standing  con- 
tempt  for    her.     Nevertheless   when,   on   Henry's 
departure  to   the   war,  the   order   communicating 
this   decision  was   read   to   her,  we  are  informed 
by   a   letter   from   a   friend   at   the   court   to   the 
Constable    Montmorency   that   she    "only  smiled, 
and   said   that   though   it   had   pleased   the    King 
not  to  give  her  this  authority  which  His  Majesty 
Francis  I.  gave  on  a  similar  occasion  to  his  mother, 
Louise,  and  though  she  would  have  used  it  well 
had  he  done  so,  yet  it  was  not  her  intention  to 
ask  him   to   redress   the  wrong.     Only,  she   said, 
she  would  prefer  not  to  have  the  order  published, 
'lest    it    should    lower    her    reputation   with    the 
people.'"     No  wonder  that   those  who  heard  her 
words    and   saw   her   receive   such   an   affront   in 


46  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

such  a  manner,  marvelled  openly  at  her  "  wonderful 
self-control." 

Such,  then,  was  the  trial  which  lasted  through 
so  large  a  portion  of  Catherine's  life.  And  it 
was  this  severe  ordeal  (involving  through  so  many 
years  a  daily  and  almost  hourly  exercise  of  self- 
control)  which  both  tested,  and  formed,  her 
character.  She  was  only  twenty  when  this  trial 
began,  and  had  shown  by  her  history  as  a  girl 
that  she  possessed  her  full  share  of  that  tendency 
to  emotion  natural  to  one  of  Italian  blood ;  thus 
for  her  to  learn  self-control  was  more  difficult 
than  for  women  of  northern  race,  like  Elizabeth 
of  England  or  Jeanne  d'Albret  of  France.  Never- 
theless, through  the  long  discipline  of  twenty 
years,  she  grew  from  an  emotional  girl  into  a 
woman  in  whom  the  power  of  self-control  was 
so  developed  that  it  amazed  all  who  saw  it  in 
exercise.  Those  who  looked  merely  on  the  surface 
saw  only  "  indifference,"  or  in  some  cases  dupUcity  ; 
while  it  is,  of  course,  possible  to  argue  that  all 
self-control  is  duplicity.  But  to  those  who  saw 
deeper  (as  it  is  plain  from  their  reports  that  some 
of  the  Venetian  ambassadors  did)  the  real  character 
was  evident  enough.  And  the  combination  of  the 
endurance  displayed,  the  motive  for  which  the 
trial  was  submitted  to,  and  the  dignified  manner 
in  which  the  burden  was  borne,  irresistibly  im- 
press us. 

It  is  necessary  to  notice,  in  view  of  the  tradi- 
tional idea  regarding  her,  that  during  the  whole 
of  this  portion  of  her  life,  i.e.,  up  to  the  age  of 
forty,  there  are  no  tales  of  crimes  alleged  against 
Catherine  de'  Medici.  Ground  for  such  a  charge 
was    the    very    thing    for    which    her    numerous 


XIX.]  HER   FIRST   OPPORTITNTTY  47 

enemies  watched  in  order  to  get  her  divorced ; 
but  they  never  were  able  to  produce  any.  All 
the  charges  of  that  kind^  relate  to  the  period  of 
her  life  after  she  was  forty. 

At  last,  in  August  1557,  when  Catherine  was 
thirty-eight,  she  had  her  first  opportunity  of  show- 
ing her  abilities.  During  the  absence  of  the  King 
in  Champagne  the  main  French  army  under  the 
Constable  Montmorency  was  totally  defeated  at 
the  battle  of  St  Quentin  by  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
who  in  1553  had  succeeded  his  father  as  Duke  of 
Savoy.  Montmorency  himself  was  taken  prisoner ; 
northern  France  was  left  completely  defenceless ; 
Spain  was  jubilant  at  this  crushing  defeat  of  the 
French  arms  ;  and  a  general  panic  took  place  in 
Paris.  In  this  time  of  national  emergency  it  was 
not  Diane  de  Poictiers  (though  her  ascendency 
over  all  affairs  of  the  kingdom  was  still  continuing) 
who  came  to  the  front,  but  Catherine,  Diane  being 
as  helpless  in  the  crisis  as  every  one  else.  The 
disaster  was  stupendous. 

"  History  has  related  what  were  our  losses  ; 
immense,  unheard  of  since  Pavia.  .  .  .  The  first 
shock  of  the  news  was  overwhelming ;  France 
was  stunned  by  the  blow.  Already  Paris  believed 
the  enemy  within  the  walls,  and  the  realm  cap- 
tured. In  the  capital  the  citizens  packed  their 
possessions  and  fled,  some  to  Orleans,  some  to 
Bourges,  some  still  further.  ...  To  stop  the 
flight,  to  rouse  energy,  to  sound  in  the  ears  of 
France  those  words  able  to  arouse  the  dead,  '  The 
country  in  danger,'  this  was  the  imperative  duty 
of  whoever  governed.     But  the  King  was  absent ; 

'   Except,   of  course,  the  accusation  made  against   her  when   the 
Dauphin  died  (p    '■}-). 


48  CATHERINE   DE'   MEUICI  ['hap. 

only  the  Queen  was  in  Paris.  What  did  the 
Queen  ?  I  leave  the  Venetian  ambassador  to 
reply."  ^ 

Giacomo  Soranzo,  the  Venetian  ambassador  at 
that  time,  in  his  report  of  the  14th  August  1557, 
relates  that  Catherine  at  once  went  to  the  Parle- 
ment^  urged  on  them  not  to  lose  heart  (as  they 
were  ready  to  do),  but  to  vigorously  prosecute  the 
war,  and  to  vote  large  subsidies  for  the  defence  of 
the  kingdom ;  and  she  showed  so  much  courage, 
wisdom,  and  ability,  that  she  was  not  only  com- 
pletely successful,  but  received  an  immense  ovation 
from  the  members  of  the  Parlement. 

"  She  expressed  herself  with  so  much  eloquence 
and  feeling  that  she  touched  all  hearts.  .  .  .  And 
the  assembly  concluded  amidst  such  applause  for 
Her  Majesty,  and  such  lively  marks  of  satisfaction 
at  her  conduct,  as  cannot  be  described  in  words. 
All  over  the  city  nothing  is  talked  about  but  the 
Queen's  prudence,  and  the  happy  way  in  which 
she  acted  in  this  undertaking."^ 

Thus  did  Catherine,  on  the  first  occasion  in 
which  she  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  her 
powers,  overcome  (for  a  tiine,  at  all  events)  the 
prejudice  which  the  French  people  had  nourished 
against  her  for  so  many  years. 

*'  Her  action  gave  all  the  more  surprise  because 
it  was  so  little  expected.  Catherine  de'  Medici  by 
this  act  raised  the  veil  of  unconcern  with  politics 
to  which  the  force  of  circumstances  had  until  now 
condemned  her.  ...  It  was  the  first  hour  of  her 
initiative,   the   first    evidence   of  that   personality 

1  La  Diplornatie  Venitienne,  by  M.  Armand  Baschet. 

2  The  French  Parlement  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Eng-lish 
Parliament,  from  which  it  differed  botli  in  constitution  and  functions. 

^  Venetian    State    Papers :    Secret    Records.      Despatches    of   the 
ambassador,  Giacomo  Soranzo. 


XIX.]  EDUCATION   OF   HER   CHILDREN  49 

which  she  was  later  on  to  raise  to  so  high  a 
degree.  .  .  .  She  revealed  herself  as  Queen,  and 
gave  evidence  to  the  Parisians  that  the  blood  of 
the  nation  had  become  her  own  blood."  ^ 

Nor  was  it  only  in  the  French  people  that 
Catherine,  by  the  qualities  which  she  showed  in 
this  her  first  public  action,  produced  a  cliange 
of  opinion  regarding  herself;  Henry  was  greatly 
impressed  with  her  conduct  on  this  occasion,  and 
after  the  episode  entirely  changed  his  mode  of 
behaviour  towards  her,  henceforth  during  the 
remaining  two  years  of  his  life  treating  her  on 
all  occasions  with  marked  respect. 

During  the  twelve  years  of  her  life  as  Queen, 
Catherine,  shut  out  from  State  affairs,  found  her 
main  occupation  in  the  education  of  her  children. 
This  she  undertook  almost  entirely  herself,  and 
the  manner  in  which  she  performed  it  was  con- 
sidered by  those  around  her  to  show  a  laudable 
example  of  devoted  attention  and  good  sense.  Her 
sons  (who  all  inlierited,  in  a  more  pronounced 
degree,  their  father's  want  of  ability)  soon  passed 
under  other  instructors,^  but  her  three  daughters, 
Elizabeth  (born  1545),  Claude  (born  1547),  and 
ISIarguerite  (born  1553),  were  taught  entirely 
by    Catherine    herself.      With    her    three    young 

'  La  Diplomatie  Veni.'icnne,  by  M.  Armaiid  Bascliet. 

^  Dumas  in  his  novels  (which,  of  course,  contain  nothing  belonp;- 
ing  to  history  but  their  framework  and  local  colouring)  represents 
Catherine  as  bringing  up  her  sons  to  be  vicious  and  incapable  in  order 
tliat  the  real  power  might  be  hers  ;  but  this  has  no  historical  founda- 
tion. Catlierine  had  no  idea  tliat  her  husband  would  die  while  her 
sons  were  young  enough  for  such  a  plan  to  be  of  any  use  ;  while 
Francis,  the  most  incapable  of  them,  was  brought  up  under  tutors 
appointed  by  Henry  II.,  wlio  would  certainly  never  have  permitted 
anything  of  the  kind.  And  similar  instructors  had  charge  of 
Catherine's  other  sons,  the  second,  Charles,  having  as  the  super- 
intendent of  his  education  the  Prince  de  la  Roche  sur  Yonue,  who 
appointed  Amyot  as  the  boy's  tutor. 

vol..  II.  D 


50  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

daughters  Catherine  also  brouglit  up  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots,  who,  born  in  1542  and  brought  to 
France  at  the  age  of  five,  was  the  eldest  of  the 
four  girls.  The  list  of  the  various  translations, 
essays,  and  exercises  set  them  by  Catherine  is 
still  to  be  seen,  and  shows  how  thorough  was 
her  teaching  and  how  wide  its  range.  To  the 
little  Mary  she  dictates  the  following  to  be 
translated  by  her  into  Latin : — 

"  The  true  grandeur  and  excellence  of  a  prince, 
my  very  dear  sister,  does  not  consist  in  honours, 
in  gold,  in  purple,  and  other  luxuries  of  fortune, 
but  in  prudence,  wisdom,  and  knowledge.  And 
by  so  much  as  the  prince  wishes  to  differ  from 
his  people  in  his  mode  and  fashion  of  Uving,  by 
so  much  should  he  be  removed  from  the  foolish 
opinions  of  the  vulgar.  Adieu,  and  love  me  as 
much  as  you  can."^ 

It  is  strange  to  remember  that  at  the  very  time 
that  Catherine  was  teaching  Mary  these  principles, 
Diane  de  Poictiers  was  taking  every  opportunity 
to  teach  the  latter  to  despise  her  as  "  La  fille 
de  marchands." 

Catherine's  daughters  were  brought  up  with 
exceeding  strictness,  Catherine  being  all  her  life 
a  very  great  stickler  for  les  convenances.  It  is  ex- 
traordinary to  note  from  their  letters  how  greatly 
her  children  admired  her,  and  how  much  they 
thought  of  it  when  they  won  her  praise.  This 
was  not  confined  to  one,  but  is  common  to  them 
all.  Her  favourite  daughter  was  the  eldest, 
Elizabeth ;  the  youngest  Marguerite  (she  who 
afterwards  proved  such  a  thorn  to  her  husband), 

^  Hisioire  d' Elizabeth  de  Valois,  by  the  Marquis  du  Prat. 


XIX.]  MARY,   QUEEN   OF   SCOTS  51 

was  the  most  troublesome  even  at  that  age,  and 
in  her  letters  she  tells  us  so,  and  that  at  times 
she  had  even  to  be  beaten.  But  she  admired  her 
mother  just  as  much  as  did  the  rest. 

The  last  year  of  Henry  II. 's  reign  was  a  time 
of  important  marriages,  and  festivities,  pageants, 
and  fetes  in  connection  therewith  such  as  Henry 
loved.  On  the  24th  April  1558,  Catherine's  eldest 
son  Francis  was  married  to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
both  of  them  being  fifteen  years  of  age.  This 
wedding  was  arranged  on  the  grandest  scale,  with 
every  accessory  that  could  add  picturesque  effect. 
A  gallery  hung  with  vine  branches  laden  with 
grapes  was  constructed  from  the  Bishop's  palace 
to  the  door  of  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  in 
front  of  which  was  placed  the  royal  dais ;  and  as 
the  brilliant  cortege  approached  the  dais,  heralds 
flung  gold  and  silver  among  the  crowd,  until  they 
had  to  desist  owing  to  the  scramble  for  it  creating 
so  great  a  disturbance.  The  young  bride,  "  dressed 
all  in  white  and  looking  like  a  lily,  and  wearing 
a  crown  blazing  with  diamonds,  sapphires,  and 
emeralds,"  took  her  place  under  the  portico,  where 
the  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Rouen,  the  wedding  ring  being 
handed  to  him  by  the  King,  who  drew  it  from  his 
own  finger.  After  which  Mass  was  celebrated 
inside  the  cathedral,  the  bride  and  bridegroom 
occupying  a  throne  under  a  canopy  of  cloth  of 
gold.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  ball  at  the 
palace  of  Les  Tournelles,  combined  with  "  masques 
and  mummeries "  in  the  Palais  de  Justice,  at 
which  the  children   of  the    Dukes  of  Guise  and 


52  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

Aumale  rode  on  artificial  horses  caparisoned  with 
gold  and  silver  trappings  and  drawing  coaches 
filled  with  gorgeously  dressed  pilgrims.  These 
were  followed  by  six  ships  covered  with  crimson 
velvet,  and  imitating  as  they  moved  the  rolling 
motion  of  the  sea,  in  the  foremost  of  which 
embarked  the  King  and  the  young  bride,  in  the 
next  the  Dauphin  and  Catherine,  in  the  third 
the  Duke  of  Lorraine  and  the  Princess  Claude, 
and  so  on,  the  ships  then  sailing  round  the 
great  hall,  "  which  was  illuminated  as  much  by 
the  blaze  of  jewels  worn  by  the  company  as 
by  the  torches  and  cressets."^ 

This  was  followed  a  year  later  by  the 
two  marriages,  in  June  1559,  of  Henry's  sister 
Marguerite  to  Emmanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  and  of  his  and  Catherine's  eldest  daughter 
Elizabeth,  then  fourteen,  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain,^ 
this  latter  marriage  being  by  proxy.  The  pageants 
and  fetes  in  connection  with  these  two  marriages 
went  on  for  many  days,  and  concluded  with  a 
grand  tournament  held  in  front  of  the  palace  of 
Les  Tournelles  on  the  30th  June,  in  which  the 
King  himself  took  part,  and  which  was  witnessed 
by  "  four  Queens "  —  Catherine,  her  daughter 
Elizabeth,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and  Marguerite. 
Catherine's  celebrated  astrologer,  Gaurico,  had 
some  time  before  predicted  that  Henry  would 
be  fatally  wounded  in  a  duel  at  the  age  of  forty, 
and  had  repeated  this  prediction  a  week  before 
the  tournament;  and  Catherine  had  grave  fears 
about   Henry's   taking    part    in   the   contest,    and 

1  Archives  de  tHistoire  de  France,  and  Eecueil  defragments  historiques 
siir  les  derniers  Valois,  by  M.  Arinand  Eudel. 

*  Then  a  widower  through  the  death  iu  1558  of  Mary  of  England. 


xa.]  DEATH    OF   HENRY    H.  53 

endeavoured  to  dissuade  him  from  doing  so ;  but 
he  was  bent  upon  it.  As  he  rode  into  the  Hsts 
a  boy  in  the  crowd  cried  out :  *'  Sire,  do  not  tilt "  ; 
but  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  it,  nor  did  the 
boy  himself,  when  afterwards  interrogated,  know 
why  he  had  been  moved  to  cry  out.  After 
several  courses  in  which  Henry  w^as  victorious 
he  sent  Catherine  a  message  that  he  "  would  try 
one  more  bout  for  love  of  her."  He  did  so  ;  his 
opponent  Montgomery's^  lance  pierced  Henry's 
eye  ;  and,  to  the  horror  of  the  w^hole  assemblage, 
the  King  fell  from  his  horse  mortally  wounded. 
He  was  at  once  carried  into  the  Tournelles  palace, 
lingered  for  ten  days  in  great  agony,  and  then  died. 
On  this  terrible  conclusion  to  the  tournament 
the  greatest  confusion  pervaded  the  court,  while, 
as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  King  was  in 
a  dying  state,  all  public  affairs  were  thrown  into 
the  utmost  disorder.  In  this  emergency  the  Queen 
came  forward  as  alone  having  the  right  to  assume 
the  management  of  affairs.  And  her  first  exercise 
of  authority  was  to  order  the  Duchess  of  Valentinois 
to  depart  to  her  own  house.  But  Catherine  never 
at  any  time  diu'ing  her  life  showed  a  revengeful 
spirit,  and  upon  Henry's  death  she  allowed  Diane 
de  Poictiers  to  retain  possession  of  her  magnificent 
chateau  of  Anet,  contenting  herself  with  forbidding 
her  the  court,  and  requiring  Diane  to  resign  her 
other  chateau  of  Chenonceaux  -  in  exchange  for 
that  castle  of  Chaumont  which  Catherine  never 
desired  to  see  again. 

^  Montgomery  was  Captain  of  the  King's  Scottish  Guard.     They 
numbered  a  hundred  men,  all  of  tliom  gentlemen. 

'^  To  which  Catherine  had  a  prior  claim  {see  cliap.  xx.  p.  78). 


54  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI        [chap.  xix. 

Catherine's  grief  at  Henry's  death  was  immense. 
For  several  days  she  would  not  speak,  and  when 
the  Venetian  ambassador  came  to  condole  with  her, 
he  says  that  she  received  him  in  a  room  of  which 
both  walls  and  floor  were  all  covered  with  black, 
as  well  as  everything  in  the  room,  while  she  herself 
could  scarcely  speak  to  him.  From  this  time  forth 
she  always  wore  heavy  mourning  and  a  widow's 
veil,  and  adopted  a  new  motto,  Lachrymae  hinc, 
hinc  dolor.  Nor  was  this  grief  simulated ;  all 
writers  have  considered  that  in  these  various 
signs  of  grief  there  was  no  pretence.  She  who 
for  so  many  years  had  so  hidden  her  feelings 
that  many  declared  her  to  have  none,  could  not 
hide  them  now ;  she  had  lost  the  one  love  of 
her  life,  a  blow  felt  all  the  more  because  the 
man  whom  she  thus  mourned  had  never  known 
how  much  she  loved  him,  nor  returned  her 
affection ;  and  for  a  time  she  shut  herself  up  with 
her  grief  in  an  impenetrable  silence. 

Thus  ended  Catherine's  married  life  at  the  age 
of  forty.  We  have  now  to  see  her  in  a  new 
role,  one  in  which  the  powers  and  abilities  which 
had  so  long  been  allowed  no  exercise  were  at 
last  to  have  full  scope. 


CHAPTER  XX 

CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI 

Bom  1.519.     (Married  1533.)     Died  1589. 
(2)  THE  LAST  THIRTY  YEARS  OF   HER   LIFE 

The  period  on  which  we  now  enter  is  a  strange 
one,  full  of  the  most  violent  contrasts.  The  latter 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  France  is  a  time 
when  all  the  elements  of  tragic  drama  are  at  their 
height.  Only  the  music  of  a  Wagner  could  do  it 
justice.  Rivers  of  blood  flow.  Lives  are  thrown 
away  for  a  bagatelle.  "  Balls  alternate  with 
massacres."  At  one  moment  thunder,  lightning, 
and  dark  clouds ;  at  the  next  a  blue  sky,  the  soft 
sound  of  music,  and  sunshine  amidst  gardens  of 
roses.  Stilettos  ornamented  with  pearls.  French 
gaiety  and  wit  even  in  the  midst  of  terror  and 
death.  One  thing  only  stable,  a  universal  courage. 
Such  are  the  characteristics  of  an  epoch  in  which 
two  streams,  the  barbarism  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  the  refinement  of  more  modern  times,  met 
in  a  conflict  of  tossing  waves  before  the  former 
was  finally  overcome  by  the  latter. 

The  women  of  this  period  are  peculiar  to 
their  time,  differing  entirely  from  those  of  any 
other  century ;  and  properly  to  appreciate  any 
one  of  them   we  have  to  realise   the  exceptional 

55 


56  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

atmosphere  in  which  they  Hved,  and  of  which 
they  formed  so  prominent  a  part.  Fearless, 
capable,  learned,  vivacious,  full  of  energy  and 
common  -  sense,  half  Pagan  and  half  Christian, 
deeply  religious  at  one  moment  and  at  another 
consulting  astrologers  and  purchasing  love  potions, 
riding  like  Amazons,  fond  of  danger  and  dress- 
ing, music  and  love,  assisting  at  tournaments, 
accustomed  to  bloody  sights  and  cruel  suffermgs 
at  a  period  when  all  held  their  lives  by  a  very 
slender  thread,  a  mixture  of  laughter  and  tears 
and  Stoicism,  they  are  full  of  contrasts  and 
surprises,  while  yet  at  all  times  intensely  human 
and  intensely  interesting. 

And  where  such  women  found  themselves 
placed  in  positions  in  which,  in  an  age  of  fierce 
conflict  and  violent  passions,  they  were  called 
upon  to  govern  states,  they  perforce  developed 
the  qualities  necessary  to  such  conditions.  Thus 
of  Jeanne  d'Albret,  niece  of  Francis  I.,  and  mother 
of  Henry  of  Navarre,  it  has  been  said  that  she 
was  "  a  Queen  in  whom  nothing  was  woman  but 
her  sex,  a  soul  wholly  given  to  manly  things,  a 
mind  capable  of  great  affairs,  a  heart  invincible 
by  adversities " ;  ^  and  the  same  might  have  been 
said  of  either  Catherine  de'  Medici  or  Elizabeth 
of  England.  All  three  of  them  were  like  women 
of  iron  ;  and  had  need  to  be  so.  It  was  an  age 
in  which,  in  addition  to  the  greatest  ability,  the 
qualities  required,  in  order  to  obtain  for  those  over 
whom  they  ruled  the  one  blessing  which  is  the 
greatest  of  all  to  a  country — the  blessing  of  peace, 
— were  a  will  of  adamant,  a  rigid  impassibility,  a 

1  Histoire  Universelle,  by  I.  A.  d'Aubig-ne. 


XX.]  WOMEN   OF   IKON   REQUIRED  57 

steadfastness  unconquerable.  And  it  is  to  mis- 
understand the  whole  epoch  to  condemn  them  for 
not  possessing  those  qualities  which  we  admire  in 
women  rulers  in  our  age,  and  for  possessing  those 
sterner  characteristics  which  were  the  need  of 
their  time  if  they  were  to  preserve  those  over 
whom  they  were  set  from  the  most  grievous  evils. 
Such  a  character,  for  instance,  as  that  of  our 
deservedly  honoured  Queen  Victoria  would  in 
that  age  have  been  simply  crushed,  and  would 
have  been  of  no  use  to  poor  passion-tossed  France. 
In  stormy  weather  ships'  anchors  must  be  made 
of  iron,  not  of  gold. 

And  in  coming  to  this  third  period  of  Catherine's 
life  we  reach  a  stormy  time  indeed.  M.  Imbert  de 
Saint-Amand,  referring  to  the  dangers  which  lay 
before  her  on  coming  to  power,  says  : — 

"  Never  had  a  more  overwhelming  burden 
rested  on  a  woman's  shoulders.  A  Bhmche  of 
Castile's  force  of  soul  would  not  have  been  great 
enough  to  struggle  against  the  tempests  about  to 
be  let  loose  on  France."^ 

The  period  of  Catherine's  life  which  now 
begins — the  thirty  years  from  1559  to  1589 — is 
that  of  the  reigns  of  her  three  sons,  who  in  turn 
succeeded  each  other.  Her  eldest  son,  Francis  II., 
coming  to  the  throne  at  sixteen,  only  reigned  for 
a  year  and  a  half  (1559-1560).  Her  second  son, 
Charles  IX.,  succeeded  his  brother  at  the  awe  of 
ten,  and  reigned  for  fourteen  years  (15G0-1574). 
Her  third  son,  Henry  III.,  succeeding  his  brother 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  reigned  for  fifteen  years 
(1574-1589).     During  the  seventeen  months  of  her 

'  Women  of  the  Valois  Court,  by  Imbert  de  Saint-Amand 


68  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

eldest  son's  reign,  Catherine  had  little  more  power 
than  before  her  husband's  death,  Francis  II.  being 
entirely  ruled  by  her  opponents,  the  Guises ;  but 
during  nearly  the  whole  of  her  second  son's  reign 
Catherine  was  Queen  Regent  of  France,  while 
during  her  third  son's  reign  she  was,  though  not 
Regent,  the  most  important  of  his  advisers,  striving 
to  keep  his  indolent  and  foolish  character  from 
bringing  his  throne  to  disaster.  Thus  during 
nearly  thirty  years  she  was  the  most  important 
person  in  France.  Before  coming  to  the  detailed 
history  of  those  years  it  will  be  well  to  glance  at 
the  task  by  which  she  was  confronted,  the  qualities 
she  possessed  for  coping  with  it,  and  the  general 
characteristics  of  this  the  most  important  of  the 
three  periods  of  her  life.  And  although  during 
the  first  seventeen  months  of  this  period  she  did 
not  obtain  the  control  of  affairs,  yet  this  space  of 
time  being  so  short  we  may  disregard  it  for  the 
moment  and  look  at  these  thirty  years  as  a 
whole. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  evidence  on  which  we 
have  to  rely.  Controversy  has  raged  for  three 
centuries  over  the  events  of  this  period ;  with  the 
result  that  the' evidence  by  which  we  have  to  judge 
of  Catherine's  character  and  conduct  during  this 
portion  of  her  life  is  to  the  last  degree  conflicting. 
By  some  she  is  represented  as  without  ability, 
discernment,  or  breadth  of  view,  fuU  of  vacillations 
and  shifty  compromises,  acting  as  the  moment 
prompted,  one  whose  only  motive  was  a  lust  for 
sovereignty,  an  intriguer  working  out  the  tangled 
schemes  of  a  changeable  and  baleful  policy,  and 
caught  in  her  own  snares.      According  to  others 


XX.]  CONFLICTING   JUDGMENTS  69 

she  Avas  endowed  with  an  abihty  and  power  of 
discernment  seldom  seen  upon  a  throne,  one  who 
brought  to  the  cause  of  a  distracted  country  a 
power  of  endurance  in  adhering  to  a  wise  but 
difficult  course,  an  intelligence,  and  a  strength  of 
character  worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  Thus 
she  is  by  some  represented  as  the  ruin,  and  by 
others  as  the  salvation,  of  France. 

But  while  writers  of  the  former  class  are 
steadily  tending  to  become  less  credited  as  fuller 
information  becomes  available,^  they  also  frequently 
refute  each  other.  Thus,  those  who  have  held  her 
responsible  for  the  massacre  on  St  Bartholomew's 
Day  are  contradicted  by  so  great  an  authority  as 
the  historian  Michelet,  who  in  his  antipathy  to  "  the 
Italian  woman "  will  not  allow  to  her  ability  or 
importance  of  any  kind,  treating  her  with  cold 
disdain,  calling  her  a  "  nonentity,"  and  saying : — 
"  Never  had  she  either  the  idea  or  the  couraere 
required  (for  such  a  massacre).  .  .  .  Her  admirer 
Tavannes  overrates  her,  I  consider,  and  exaggerates 
in  attributing  to  her  the  idea  of  Coligny's  death."  ^ 
To  this  a  later  writer,  M.  Armand  Baschet, 
nourishing  an  almost  equally  strong  feeling  against 
Catherine,  vigorously  responds  : — "  Desirmg  to  be 
more  than  true,  you  are  worse  than  false.  .  .  .  To 
listen  to  you,  one  would  think  Catherine  de'  Medici 
knew  not  even  the  first  word  about  politics ; " 
pointing  out  that  in  thus  acquitting  Catherine  of 
having  caused  Coligny's  death,  Michelet  destroys 
his  own  argument,  by  acquitting  her  of  that  which 

'  Chap.  xix.  pp.  4-5. 

'  Guerren  de  religion,  by  Michelet. 


60  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

is  the  chief  charge  against  her.^  Honore  de  Balzac, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  he  praises  her  living 
chastely  in  the  midst  of  the  most  licentious  court 
in  Europe,  considers  that  the  enormous  crimes  and 
destruction  which  were  being  committed  through- 
out France  by  the  Protestants  justified  even  such  a 
massacre  as  that  of  St  Bartholomew's  Day;  thus 
exonerating  Catherine  on  grounds  which  admit 
all  that  her  worst  enemies  have  said.  A  fourth 
authority,  Brantome  (who  lived  in  the  midst  of  all 
these  events),  remarks: — "She  has  been  strongly 
accused  of  the  Paris  massacre.  .  .  .  There  were 
at  least  three  or  fovu*  others  who  might  be  more 
justly  accused  of  it  than  she " ;  while  he  is  never 
tired  of  praising  her  goodness,  her  wisdom,  her 
peace-making  endeavours,  and  "  her  grief  at  seeing 
so  many  nobles  and  people  perish  "  in  these  bitter 
contests  which  were  rending  France.  Lastly,  a 
recent  writer  of  her  life,  after  admitting  her  freedom 
from  prejudice,  her  tolerance,  patience,  and  self- 
control,  and  that  she  gave  no  cause  for  scandal, 
asserts  that  none  of  these  qualities  in  her  were 
deserving  of  any  praise,  but  were  all  due  to  bad 
motives,  adding : — "  We  shall  follow  her  in  these 
pages  with  admiration,  but  with  hatred."^ 

The  above  afford  an  example  of  the  conflicting 
opinions  on  the  subject  of  Catherine's  conduct 
during  these  thirty  years.  As  before,  however, 
our  safest  guides  will  be  those  dispassionate  on- 
lookers, the  Venetian  ambassadors,  who  one  after 
another  were  accredited  to  the  court  of  France. 
Their   secret   reports    to    their   own   government, 

1  La  Diplomatie  Venitienne,  by  M.  Armand  Baschet. 
«  See  Miss  Sichel's  Gathenne  de'  Medici,  pp.  6-7 


XX.]  CATHERINE   AT   FORTY  61 

those  actions  of  hers  which  are  admitted  by  all,  and 
lastly  her  own  letters,  will  together  form  a  more 
reliable  guide  to  the  truth  regarding  Catherine  de' 
Medici  than  the  writings  of  any  other  authorities 
that  could  be  produced. 

Catherine^  was  now,  at  the  age  of  forty,  at 
the  full  maturity  of  her  mental  powers,  and 
with  an  ample  sphere  for  their  exercise  at  last 
opening  before  her.  The  long  years  of  obscurity 
and  repression  had  disciplined  and  matured  her 
character,  her  abilities  were  at  their  zenith,  and 
her  knowledge  and  experience  had  been  ripened 
by  her  having  stood  as  an  onlooker,  watching  the 
movements  of  the  political  world  of  France  diu-ing 
twenty-six  years  with  the  discernment  which  she 
so  abundantly  possessed.  There  is  ample  proof  in 
her  letters  that  she  intended  to  undo  the  harm 
which  incapacity  during  the  previous  twelve  years 
had  produced,  to  pacify  the  passions  which  had 
been  aroused  by  unjust  and  short-sighted  methods 
of  government,  to  bring  the  country  to  peace, 
advance  its  prosperity,  and  raise  it  high  in  the 
estimation  of  other  countries.  The  crest  and 
motto  which  she  had  adopted  at  her  marriage 
was  a  rainbow  with  the  words,  "  I  bring  light 
and  serenity " ;    and   it  is  admitted  on   all  hands 

1  Plate  XLI.  ITiis  portrait  of  Catlierine  by  the  second-rate  artist 
Pourbus,  taken  when  she  was  about  forty,  was  eviciciitly  never  considered 
by  her  family  of  any  value  as  compared  with  her  earlier  one  wliich  hangs 
in  the  villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano  (Plate  XXXIX.).  Instead  of  being  placed 
like  the  latter  in  an  honoured  position  in  the  chief  villa  of  the  family 
it  was  (and  still  is)  relegated  to  a  dark  passage  with  all  tliose  |)ictures 
which  were  considered  of  least  account.  Not  a  little  remarkalde  is  her 
pink  satin  dress,  covered  all  over  with  rows  of  pearls  and  sapphires 
crossing  and  re-crossing,  while  a  long  chain  of  the  same  from  the  waist 
supports  an  ornament  of  pearls  and  sapphires  worn  near  her  feet. 


62  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

that  on  coming  to  power  she  strove  earnestly  to 
carry  out  this  motto. 

But  unfortunately  for  Catherine  a  widespread 
movement  was  sweeping  over  Europe  which  made 
all  such  achievements  for  the  time  impossible. 
The  great  conflict  over  religion  which  had  so 
long  been  tearing  Germany  to  pieces  was  now 
spreading  to  France ;  Geneva  and  Rome  ^  were 
beginning  to  make  that  country  their  battle- 
ground.^ Already  during  the  latter  part  of 
Henry  II.'s  reign  (under  the  influence  of  Diane 
de  Poictiers,  an  ardent  opponent  of  the  new 
religion)  there  had  been  cruel  persecutions  and 
executions  on  account  of  religion.  By  the  time 
that  Catherine  became  Queen  Regent  the  two 
hostile  forces  had  become  ranged  against  each 
other ;  and  soon  a  religious  war  —  that  most 
vindictive  of  all  wars  —  raged  over  France,  tear- 
ing the  country  to  pieces,  devastating  its  cities, 
maddening  its  people,  and  making  permanent 
peace  unattainable  even  by  the  wisest  adminis- 
trator until  such  time  as  the  force  of  religious 
animosity  had  spent  itself  by  the  sacrifice  of  a 
hecatomb  of  noble  lives.  Throughout  the  whole 
period  covered  by  the  reigns  of  Catherine's  second 
and  third  sons  did  this  contest  last,  and  for  five 

^  For  general  list  of  Popes  in  the  fifteeuthj  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  see  Appendix  X. 

2  Though  the  Reformation  did  not  in  France  so  soon  develop  into  a 
conflict,  its  doctrines  had  been  promulgated  there  as  early  as  they  were 
in  Germany.  Jacques  Lefevre,  of  Etaples  in  Picardy  (who  had  been  a 
scholar  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy),  even  forestalled  Luther,  publishing 
in  1512  a  commentary  on  St  Paul's  Epistles  in  wliich  he  enunciated  two 
of  the  main  doctrines  afterwards  put  forward  by  Luther.  It  was  Picardy 
also  which  produced  Calvin  (bom  1509),  who,  establishing  himself  at 
Geneva,  made  that  city  the  headquarters  of  French  Protestantism,  from 
whence  he  issued  his  orders  to  the  Protestants  in  France  as  autocratic- 
ally as  did  the  Pope  from  Rome  to  the  Roman  Catholics. 


Plate  xi.i. 


Alinari 


[rilizi  Oitflen/. 


xx.i  THE  TASK   BEFORE   HER  68 

years  beyond  it.  Thus  it  was  her  ill  fate  to  have 
to  rule  France  during  just  that  period  which  the 
effects  of  the  Reformation  would  have  caused  to 
be  the  most  tempestuous  time  in  that  country's 
history  whoever  had  been  on  the  throne. 

However,  when  Catherine  began  her  task  these 
things  were  hidden  in  the  future ;  and  the  manner 
in  which  she  endeavoured  to  cope  with  it  has 
won  praise  from  numberless  high  authorities.  The 
difficulties  were  immense.  France  was  torn  by  a 
furious  conflict  between  the  Protestants  (called  in 
France,  the  Huguenots)  and  the  Roman  Cathohcs, 
who  plotted  and  warred  ceaselessly  against  each 
other,  while  each  endeavoured  to  get  the  throne 
on  their  side — even  by  force,  if  in  no  other  way.^ 
In  this  state  of  things  Catherine's  determined 
policy  was  to  refuse  to  take  either  side,  and  to 
endeavour  to  create  peace  between  these  implacable 
foes  by  compelling  them  to  learn  mutual  toleration 
and  by  holding  an  equal  balance  between  them. 
When  about  eighty  years  later  the  same  sort  of 
struggle  took  place  in  England  the  King  took  a 
side,  with  results  which  were  disastrous  to  both 
throne  and  country.  It  was  just  this  which 
Catherine  foresaw,  and  struggled  all  the  years  of 
her  power  to  avoid ;  and  she  shows  considerable 
statesmanship  in  having  set  this  endeavour  before 
her.  Catherine  (more  successful  than  Charles  I.) 
saved  her  son's  throne,  and  again  and  again 
wrought  peace  between  the  two  parties  by  her 
policy ;    but   she  did  so  at  the  price,  which  was 

^  There  were  again  and  again  attempts  to  seize  the  person  of  the 
King,  and  keep  him  a  prisoner,  in  order  that  tlie  party  wliich  had 
possession  of  him  might  be  able  to  use  tlie  weight  of  his  authority 
against  their  oppouentSj  and  show  the  throne  as  on  their  side. 


64  CATHERINE   DE*   MEDICl  [chap. 

inevitable,  that  both  parties  in  turn  abused  her 
as  double-minded.  Every  concession,  or  even  bare 
measure  of  justice,  to  one  side  was  immediately 
seized  upon  by  the  other  as  an  offence,  and  asserted 
to  be  a  departure  from  some  previous  concession 
to  themselves,  and  to  show  dissimulation  on  her 
part.  Nevertheless  Catherme  steadfastly  main- 
tained her  course,  though  opposed  by  every  sort 
of  difficulty.  She  had  the  wisdom  to  choose  as 
her  Chancellor  and  chief  adviser  the  enlightened 
and  temperate  Protestant,  Michel  de  I'Hopital, 
and  with  his  assistance  she  was  enabled  to  steer 
the  course  she  had  elected  to  follow  with  at 
times  considerable  success ;  though  under  the 
conditions  in  which  France  then  was  no  peace 
brought  about  could  be  lasting. 

That  she  was  not  understood  goes  without 
saying;  the  course  she  was  trying  to  carry  out 
was  many  years  in  advance  of  her  time ;  she  was 
endeavouring  to  act  as  a  constitutional  sovereign 
would  in  these  days,  and  to  follow  a  policy  of 
equal  toleration  to  all  which  did  not  come  into 
fashion  among  the  nations  of  Europe  until  some 
two  hundred  years  afterwards.  Catherine  exhausted 
every  method  of  reconciliation;  she  passed  measures 
favouring  one  side  as  much  as  the  other ;  she  gave 
appointments  to  Protestants  as  well  as  to  Roman 
Catholics  ;  she  made  mortal  enemies  hke  the  Duke 
of  Guise  and  the  Prince  of  Conde  embrace  each 
other  ;  she  had  as  many  Protestant  ladies-in-waiting 
as  she  had  Roman  Catholic ;  whereas  in  1555  there 
had  been  only  one  Protestant  church  in  France, 
six  years  later  there  were  two  thousand.  But 
when  a  country  is   in  the  state  in  which  France 


XX.]    TOLERATION  NOT  APPRECIATED     65 

was  moderate  courses  are  out  of  favour ;  the 
people  at  such  times  consider  those  who  act  thus 
to  be  "  lukewarm " ;  and  France  was  too  wild 
with  religious  hatred  (the  fires  of  which  were 
steadily  fanned  from  Geneva  and  Kome)  to  be 
able  to  appreciate  a  tolerant  course  of  action. 
How  little  able  the  age  was  to  understand  or 
value  a  policy  of  toleration  we  may  see  both 
from  the  reports  of  the  (unbiassed)  Venetian 
ambassadors  and  from  those  of  the  (strongly 
biassed)  Spanish  ambassador,  Chantonnay.  The 
Venetian  ambassador,  Suriano,  writes : — 

"It  is  well  known  that  several  of  the  women 
who  are  most  intimate  with  the  Queen  are 
suspected  of  heresy  and  bad  conduct ;  and  every- 
body is  aware  that  the  Chancellor  in  whom  she 
trusts  is  an  enemy  of  the  Roman  Church  and  of 
the  Pope.  We  saw,  too,  how  lukewarm  were  her 
efforts  to  protect  the  Catholic  party." 

While  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Chantonnay,  writes 
to  his  master,  Philip  II. : — 

"Take  into  consideration  that  whatever  is 
lawful  at  Geneva  as  to  sermons,  administration 
of  the  sacraments,  and  similar  things,  may  be 
done  with  impunity  throughout  the  kingdom, 
beginning  in  the  King's  house." 

To  this  policy  Catherine  adhered  in  spite  of 
obstacles  which  to  most  would  have  appeared 
insurmountable,  even  sustaining  war  from  Spain 
rather  than  abandon  it.  And  it  is  very  significant 
in  connection  with  the  degree  of  responsibility  to 
be  attached  to  her  on  account  of  the  massacre 
on  St  Bartholomew's  Day  in  157*2,  to  find  that 
vol..  II.  K 


66  CATHERINE  DE^  MEDICI  [chap. 

during  the  whole  of  the  previous  twelve  years  it  was 
for  her  moderation  and  tolerance  that  she  was  abused 
by  the  French,  not  for  conduct  of  the  opposite 
kind,  and  that  it  was  contemptuously  said  of  her 
that  she  "  had  the  olive  branch  always  in  her  hand." 

Nor  do  Catherine's  own  letters  (reticent  as  they 
are  about  herself)  fail  to  give  corroborative  testi- 
mony as  to  what  was  her  endeavour  and  what 
her  difficulties.  Writing  after  her  son  Francis  II. 's 
death  to  her  ambassador  in  Spain,  she  says  that 
her  endeavour  as  Queen  Regent  will  be  "to 
rehabihtate  by  degrees  all  that  the  malice  of  the 
times  ^  has  destroyed  in  this  kingdom."  While 
to  her  daughter  Elizabeth  she  writes  that  God 
has  taken  her  brother,  "and  has  left  me  with 
three  little  children  and  a  kingdom  so  divided 
that  there  is  not  a  single  person  in  whom  I  can 
wholly  trust,  and  who  is  not  swayed  by  party 
passion."^ 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Catherine  possessed  all 
the  quahties  for  a  just  and  wise  government  of 
France  if  only  the  religious  strife  could  have  been 
put  down,  or  had  never  arisen ;  and  we  have 
numerous  instances  given  us  of  the  many  improve- 
ments, even  distracted  as  the  country  was,  which 
she  introduced  into  the  administration.  Like  all 
who  have  greater  abilities  than  their  fellows  she 
had  a  joy  in  ruling,  "  un  affetto  di  signoreggiare  " 
as  the  Venetian  ambassador  Cavalli  calls  it.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  style  this,  as  some  have  done,  a 
lust  for  power;  it  is  a  quality  which  aU  possess 
who  are  fitted  to  rule.     And  so  far  from  being 

^  A  diplomatic  term  for  "  malice  of  the  Guises." 

8  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  edited  by  the  Cerate  de  la  Ferriere. 


XX.]  CHARGES   OF   MURDER  67 

a  defect  in  Catherine,  it  would  have  shown  a 
culpable  want  of  energy  if,  endowed  as  she  was 
with  unusual  abilities,  she  had  not  manifested  this 
love  of  ruling. 

During  this  third  portion  of  her  life,  after  she 
had  reached  the  age  of  forty,  Catherine  suddenly 
becomes  charged  with  the  wholesale  commission  of 
crimes  of  murder.  Regarding  this  all  that  need  be 
said  here  is  that  the  accusation  specifies  no  particular 
individuals,  and  that  as  it  begins  simultaneously 
with  the  religious  conflict  it  is  presumable  that  there 
is  some  connection  between  the  two  matters.  It 
may  also  be  noted  that  it  has  been  held  by  some 
well  qualified  to  form  an  opinion  on  such  a  point, 
that  the  ignorance  of  the  science  of  medicine  at 
that  time  precludes  the  possibility  of  knowledge 
of  the  subtle  poisons  which  are  presupposed  in 
all  these  cases,  and  that  on  that  ground  alone 
these  stories  should  be  rejected.  Undoubtedly 
the  people  of  that  age  imagined  that  they  pos- 
sessed subtle  poisons  (and  were  therefore  ready  to 
attribute  death  to  such  methods)  ;  just  as  they 
thoroughly  believed  in  witchcraft  and  the  possi- 
bility of  causing  the  death  of  a  person  by  means 
of  a  wax  figure  transfixed  with  pins ;  and  just  as 
they  believed  in  incantations,  horoscopes,  and  the 
various  mysteries  of  their  imaginary  science  of 
astrology.  But  they  deceived  themselves  in  the 
one  case  as  much  as  in  the  other.  Murders  by 
poison  in  that  age  when  they  did  occur  generally 
show  the  use  of  a  poison  by  no  means  subtle ; 
and  any  such  murders  if  committed  by  Catherine 
would  have  been  able  to  be  definitely  specified. 


68  CATHEllINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

In  connection  with  this  general  accusation 
almost  an  entire  literature  has  gathered  round 
Catherine  de'  Medici  of  stories  (based  on  no 
foundation,  repudiated  by  historians,  and  often 
directly  contradicted  by  the  circumstances)  of 
poisoned  gloves,  handkerchiefs,  bouquets,  and  other 
things  of  the  same  kind.^  This  literature  has  been 
preferred  to  sober  history ;  but  it  has  been  pointed 
out  by  Creighton  ^  that  such  stories  "  gathered 
round  many  prominent  characters  of  that  day,  and 
are  a  proof,  not  of  the  guilt  of  the  person  con- 
cerned, but  of  the  low  morality  of  the  age."^ 
These  stories,  while  they  gratified  an  appetite 
for  sensation,  assisted  the  endeavours  of  political 
opponents  to  blacken  the  character  of  "the  Italian 
woman."  Among  them  is  the  well-kno\Mi  fable 
of  the  secret  cupboards  in  the  suite  of  apart- 
ments occupied  by  Catherine  at  the  chateau  of 
Blois,  which  a  later  age,  in  search  of  sensation, 
felt  sure  must  have  been  intended  for  keeping  her 
poisons :  a  story  which  once  passed  for  history, 
but  has  now  been  exploded  as  entirely  apocryphal.* 

1  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  amusing  of  these  tales  is  that  of  the 
pink  candles,  which  on  being  lighted  filled  the  room  with  poisonous 
vapour  ;  by  which  means,  according  to  the  story,  Charles  IX.  (having 
on  that  night  unexpectedly  changed  rooms  with  his  brother  Henry) 
was  poisoned  in  mistake  for  Henry  ;  a  story  which  not  long  ago 
formed  the  subject  of  a  play  at  a  Continental  theatre.  Since  Henry 
was  Catherine's  favourite  son,  the  story  is  all  the  more  piquant. 

^  History  of  the  Papacy,  by  Mandell  Creighton. 

^  As  an  example  of  the  length  to  which  that  age  could  go  m  their 
credulous  belief  in  the  use  of  subtle  poisons,  we  find  even  an  historian 
like  Jovius  attributing  the  death  of  Cardinal  Bibbiena  in  1520  to  a 
poison  administered  to  him  in  new  laid  eggs,  the  hen  having  been 
made  to  imbibe  the  poison.  , 

■*  Fresh  stories  of  this  kind  are  continually  being  invented,  the 
race  of  custodians  in  charge  of  historical  buildings  throughout  Europe 
having  long  since  discovered  that  such  stories  connected  with  the 
buildings  which  they  show  to  visitors  have  a  distinct  pecuniary  value. 


XX.]  THE  CUPBOARDS   AT   BLOIS  69 

These  ingeniously  contrived  cupboards  were 
almost  certainly  intended  for  keeping  the  huge 
mass  of  secret  correspondence  which  so  prolific 
a  letter  -  writer  as  Catherine  collected  round  her, 
and  the  copies  of  those  letters  which  now  fill  so 
many  volumes  of  the  Secret  Records  of  various 
countries.  There  was  also  another  use  to  which 
a  portion  of  these  cupboards  may  have  been  put. 
Astrology  was  the  fashion  of  the  day,  and  in  con- 
nection with  it  a  large  paraphernalia  of  minerals, 
drugs,  and  magic  substances  of  many  kinds  were 
considered  indispensable.  Catherine  was  an  ardent 
votary  of  this  cult,  and  these  cupboards  may  also 
have  been  partly  used  for  this  purpose.  This  taste 
for  astrology  surrounded  Catherine  with  an  atmos- 
phere of  mystery  which  much  assisted  the  growth 
round  her  personality  of  a  literature  of  the  kind 
mentioned. 

Apart,  however,  from  these  stories,  looked  upon 
by  historians  in  the  light  of  fables,  and  showing 
merely  the  low  morality  of  the  age  and  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  rehgious  conflict,  there  are  two  murders 
(and  only  two)  with  which  Catherine  has  been 
definitely  charged,  one  that  of  Coligny,  the  other 
that  of  LigneroUes,  an  objectionable  associate  of 
her  third  son  Henry  who  mysteriously  disappeared, 
and  was  presumably  murdered.  The  former  of 
these  cases  may  be  left  to  be  considered  when  we 
come  to  that  point  in  Catherine's  history,  but 
the  latter  may  well  be  mentioned  here,  since  it 
shows  an  example  of  the  kind  of  foundation  upon 
which  accusations  of  this  nature  were  credited  in 
that  age  and  have  been  handed  down  to  our  own.^ 

^  See  also  p.  129^  regarding  Charles  IX. 's  window  in  the  Louvre. 


70  CATHERINE   I)E'   MEDICI  [chap. 

The  charge  is  founded  on  a  single  sentence  in 
a  contemporary  diary,  the  anonymous  writer  of 
which,  speaking  of  Li'TneroUes's  disappearance, 
curtly  states : — "  The  Queen  Mother,  with  the 
full  consent  of  her  children,  had  him  killed." 
Knowing  as  we  do  that  the  two  parties  in  France 
at  that  time  were  ready  to  believe  and  propagate 
the  wildest  stories  without  any  proof,  and  stuck 
at  nothing  in  their  abuse  of  a  religious  opponent, 
it  is  impossible  to  credit  any  statement  of  this 
nature  (made  by  either  party)  unless  it  has  inde- 
pendent corroboration  from  State  papers  or  other 
similar  sources.  And  a  single  bald  statement  like 
this  certainly  requires  it  in  no  ordinary  degree. 
Yet  not  only  is  none  such  forthcoming,  but  also 
the  statement  itself  contains  its  own  refutation. 
For,  knowing  what  we  do  of  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
who  is  there  that  will  believe  that  she  was  the 
sort  of  person  who,  intending  to  commit  such  a 
crime,  would  discuss  it  beforehand  with  those 
daughters  (for  she  could  not  under  the  circum- 
stances discuss  it  with  her  son  Henry  himself)  about 
whose  character  and  training  she  was  so  abnormally 
strict ;  still  less  that  she  would  obtain  from  them 
a  "  full  consent "  to  this  secret  murder  ?  Yet  this, 
preposterous  as  it  is,  is  that  which  is  involved  by 
the  statement  on  which  alone  this  charge  rests. 

Astrology  did  not  by  any  means  exhaust  all 
Catherine's  scientific  tastes.  She  was  interested  in 
all  branches  of  science,  while  both  mathematics 
and  mechanics  had  especially  great  attractions  for 
her.  Another  branch  of  knowledge  in  which  her 
sound  sense  is  very  conspicuous  was  that  of 
hygiene,  in  which  she  was   altogether  in  advance 


XX.]  CATHERINE'S   LETTER-WRITING  71 

of  her  time.  In  opposition  to  tlie  ideas  then  pre- 
vaiHng  on  the  subject,  she  was  a  strong  advocate 
for  plenty  of  air  and  exercise,  and  in  her  letters 
to  her  daughters  is  found  giving  thein  unHmited 
good  advice  on  this  point.  She  was  also  much 
opposed  to  the  conservatism  of  the  day  in 
medical  matters,  constantly  urging  the  desirability 
of  enquiring  into  new  methods  in  medicine  and 
surgery,  and  of  taking  note  of  new  discoveries  in 
medical  science  made  in  other  countries. 

Catherine  was  a  most  indefatigable  letter-writer. 
Her  letters  deal  with  every  imaginable  subject, 
from  the  most  important  affairs  of  international 
politics  down  to  pleadings  on  behalf  of  innumer- 
able porteges  for  whom  she  desired  benefits,  and 
the  most  minute  directions  about  her  children's 
health  and  how  their  clothes  were  to  be  made ; 
and  all  her  letters  breathe  a  profound  common- 
sense.     M.  Armand  Baschet  says : — 

"  A  just  and  veracious  history  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici  would  be  impossible  without  studying  her 
private  letters.  Her  ability,  her  penetration,  her 
astonishing  facility  in  overcoming  all  difficulties^ 
show  themselves  in  all  her  expressions."  ^ 

And  Michelet  himself  has  said  : — 

"  At  the  head  of  the  Laubespins,  the  Pinarts, 
the  Villeroys,  and  other  French  secretaries,  at  the 
head  of  the  Gondis,  the  Biragues,  and  other  Italian 
secretaries,  must  be  placed  that  untiring  female 
scribe,  Catherine  de'  Medici.  If  there  is  no 
despatch  to  draw  up,  she  makes  up  for  it  by  writing 
letters  of  politeness,  compliment,  or  condolence, 
even  to  private  persons."  ^ 

'  La  Diplornatie  Venitienne,  hy  M.  AriiKind  Haschct. 
^  Guerres  de  religion,  by  Michelet. 


72  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

Reading  of  this  indefatigable  letter  -  writing, 
which  occupied  so  many  hours  of  each  day  of 
Catherine's  life,  we  look  with  renewed  interest  at 
the  small  cabinet  vert  in  her  chateau  of  Chenon- 
ceaux,  with  her  initials  carved  on  the  ceiling,  which 
was  her  boudoir  and  writing-room,  and  the  place 
in  which  the  greater  part  of  her  mass  of  letters 
and  minutes  on  State  affairs  were  written.  Her 
labours  were  incessant ;  the  Venetian  ambassador, 
Sigismondo  Cavalli,  says  :— 

*'  At  table,  or  while  walking,  she  is  unceasingly 
conversing  with  some  one  on  affairs ;  her  mind 
is  bent,  not  merely  on  political  matters,  but  on 
so  many  others,  that  1  do  not  know  how  she  can 
endure  and  go  through  so  much." 

M.  BattifoP  states  that  she  was  the  most 
extravagant  of  all  the  Queens  of  France ;  but  he 
adds  that  she  was  the  one  who  (owing  to  her 
immense  dowry)  had  the  richest  personal  property. 
Her  chief  amusement  was  hunting,  of  which  she 
was  passionately  fond,  not  merely  when  young, 
but  throughout  her  life.  She  had  many  accidents  ; 
on  one  occasion  she  broke  her  leg  out  hunting,  and 
another  time  by  a  severe  fall  fractured  her  skull, 
necessitating  the  operation  of  trepanning;  but 
she  continued  to  hunt  until  nearly  sixty  years  of 
age.  After  one  of  these  accidents  she  writes : — 
*'  You  ask  for  news  of  my  fall,  so  I  will  tell  you 
that  it  was  a  bad  and  heavy  one ;  but,  thank  God, 
I  was  not  much  hurt,  and  am  only  marked  on 
my  nose,  Hke  the  sheep  of  Berri."  She  was  the 
inventress  of  the  side  saddle ;  and  it  must  have 
required  some  courage  to  be  the  first  to  attempt 

^  Marie  de  Medici  and  her  Court,  by  Louis  Battifol. 


XX.]    HER  ENDURANCE  AND  COURAGE    73 

to  ride  a  horse  in  such  an  entirely  new  manner. 
Her  son,  Charles  IX.,  tells  us  that  she  was  always 
very  regardless  of  herself,  "for  that  she  was  of 
her  nature  very  slow  to  complain,"  and  says  that 
she  frequently  neglected  her  own  health,  though 
so  particular  about  that  of  her  children.  She 
bore  pain  with  the  endurance  of  a  Stoic,  never 
complaining.  In  her  old  age,  when  constantly 
tormented  with  attacks  of  rheumatism,  she  invari- 
ably treats  the  matter  with  a  passing  joke  at  her 
own  infirmities.  All  writers  refer  to  her  unusual 
courage  in  danger.  When  determined  to  drive 
the  English  from  France,  she  insisted,  in  order  to 
inspire  the  troops,  on  taking  part  personally  in  the 
siege  of  Rouen  and  entering  the  battle  ;  and  when 
remonstrated  with  by  the  Constable  and  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  "  only  laughed  and  asked  why  she  should 
spare  herself  more  than  they  did."  ^ 

Her  agreeable  manners  when  she  came  as  a 
bride  to  France  have  been  already  alluded  to ;  on 
her  becoming  Queen  Regent  this  characteristic  had 
greater  scope,  and  we  find  all  writers  referring  to  it. 
Brantome  (always  most  enthusiastic  when  speak- 
ing of  Catherine)  expatiates  in  glowing  terms  On 
this  point,  saying  that  she  was  "  tall  and  majestic 
and  of  a  winning  presence,"  and  that  "  as  Queen 
of  France  and  doing  the  honours  of  the  court  she 
was  most  brilliant  and  magnificent,  and  nothing 
ever  equalled  her."  And  even  Trollope  says : — 
"Catherine  the  Queen  was  one  of  the  most  graceful 
mannered  women  of  her  time ;  grave  diplomatists 
were  fascinated  by  her  conversation,  and  learned 
lawyers  charmed  by  her  affability." 

Whether  it  was  her  fault,  or  her  misfortune, 

^  Dames  illustres,  by  Brantome. 


74  CATHERINE  T>K  MEDICI  [chap. 

that  she  acquired  a  character,  among  later  genera- 
tions, for  exceptional  malevolence,  and  how  far 
the  character  usually  attributed  to  her  has  been 
a  just  one  or  the  reverse,  is  a  point  regarding 
which  the  main  facts  of  her  life,  as  they  appear 
in  the  fuller  light  now  available,  are  best  left  to 
speak  for  themselves. 

Having  thus  seen  what  were  the  chief  features 
of  the  task  before  Catherine,  and  the  qualities  she 
possessed  for  coping  with  it,  we  can  now  glance 
at  the  principal  events  of  these  last  thirty  years 
of  her  life,  and  at  how  she  bore  herself  through  the 
stormiest  period  of  French  history.^ 

(1559-1560) 

On  Henry  II.'s  death  his  eldest  son,  Francis  II., 
then  sixteen,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  He  was 
sickly  in  body,  and  intensely  feeble  in  character, 
and  it  might  have  been  thought  would  certainly 
have  been  under  the  domination  of  his  mother. 
But  the  powerful  group  of  brothers,  the  Guises, 
whom  Diane  de  Poictiers  had  placed  in  the  principal 

^  In  narrating  the  history  of  this  third  period  of  Catherine's  life 
the  authorities  chiefly  relied  upon  have  been  the  reports  of  the 
Venetian  and  other  ambassadors^  and  Catherine's  own  letters  (see  pp. 
5  and  60-61).  To  quote  them  too  frequently  would  grievously  encum- 
ber the  text  for  the  general  reader.  References  have  therefore  mainly 
been  confined  to  those  required  in  denoting  the  source  from  which 
some  extract  illustrating  a  point  has  been  taken,  or  in  quoting  some 
statement  of  a  modern  writer  (such  as  Miss  Sichel)  which  it  was 
desired  to  refute.  Beyond  the  authorities  mentioned  in  the  footnote 
to  page  5  the  chief  authority  followed  has  been  The  Cambridge 
Modern  History,  which  is  itself  based  upon  the  results  of  all  the  most 
recent  research,  and  is  in  my  opinion  a  much  more  reliable  guide  than, 
for  instance.  Professor  Mariejol  (in  The  Lavisse  History  of  France), 
who  with  all  his  learning  is  still  in  the  thraldom  of  those  contemporary 
French  writers  who,  as  I  have  shown  (pp.  3,  110,  and  117),  are  not  to 
be  depended  upon.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  tlie  present  book 
takes  an  exactly  opposite  view  of  the  character  and  conduct  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici  to  that  taken  by  Miss  Sichel  in  her  recent  book  Catherine 
de'  Medici  and  the  French  Reformation,  with  its  sequel,  The  Later  Years 
of  Catherine  de  Medici, 


XX.]  THE  GUISES  OMNIPOTENT  76 

offices  of  the  State,  were  by  no  means  ready  to 
sink  into  obscurity  as  she  liad  been  obhged  to  do ; 
and  chance  now  gave  all  the  power  into  their 
hands.  The  feeble-minded  youth  who  had  become 
King  was  entirely  swayed  by  his  young  wife,  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  now  Queen  of  France  as 
well  as  of  Scotland,  and  of  whom  Catherine  in  her 
letters  at  this  time  writes ; — "  Our  little  Scottish 
Queen  has  only  to  smile  to  turn  all  Frenchmen's 
heads. "  But  Mary,  herself  also  only  sixteen, 
cared  not  at  all  about  politics,  and  was  chiefly 
bent  on  amusing  herself.  She  was  proud  of  her 
two  crowns  and  her  beauty,  was  surrounded  by 
adulation  and  flattery,  and  in  no  mood  to  be 
occupied  by  such  dull  subjects  as  affairs  of  State 
policy.  Therefore  she  was  only  too  ready  to  leave 
the  entire  management  of  State  affairs  to  her 
powerful  uncles,  the  Guises,^  and  the  latter  almost 
at  once  secured  complete  dominion  over  the  pitiful 
and  contemptible  youth,  Francis  II.,  using  him 
simply  as  their  tool,  and  effectually  preventing 
Catherine  from  having  any  influence. 

Moreover,  the  religious  question  helped  to 
strengthen  this  state  of  things.  Diane  de  Poictiers 
had  always  been  the  bitter  enemy  of  the  new 
religion,  and  she  and  the  Guises  were  determined, 
now  that  the  latter  had  complete  power,  to  exercise 
it  by  a  vigorous  stamping  out,  by  the  most  ruthless 
methods,  of  Protestantism  in  France.  And  as 
Catherine  was  considered  to  have  leanings  towards 
the  Protestant  party,  and  at  any  rate  to  be  exceed- 
ingly lukewarm,  and  certain  not  to  be  at  all  dis- 
posed towards  the  stringent  measures  which  the 
Guises  intended  to  adopt,  they  were  determined 

'  Brothers  of  her  mother,  Mary  of  Lorraiue. 


76  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

not  to  allow  her  to  have  any  control  over  affairs. 
So  that  Catherine,  during  her  eldest  son's  sliort 
reign  of  seventeen  months,  though  outwardly 
occupying  a  more  important  position  owing  to 
the  removal  from  the  scene  of  the  Duchess 
of  Valentinois,  had  practically  little  more  power 
than  she  had  during  her  husband's  hfetime  ;  and 
although  Francis  II.  began  his  reign  by  issuing  a 
decree  ordering  his  mother's  authority  to  be  obeyed 
as  if  it  were  his  own,  this  became  a  dead  letter 
(if  it  was  ever  intended  to  be  anything  else),  and 
the  Guises  alone  ruled  France.^  To  the  Duke  of 
Guise  Francis  by  a  formal  decree  gave  absolute 
authority  over  the  whole  of  the  military  affairs 
of  the  kingdom,*^  and  to  his  brother,  Charles  de 
Guise,  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  similar  authority  over 
the  whole  of  the  civil  affairs,  while  one  lucrative 
office  after  another  was  absorbed  by  them  and 
their  brothers.  With  the  entire  administration  of 
the  kingdom  in  their  hands,  the  ambition  of  this 
family  became  more  unbounded  than  ever,  and 
they  aspired  even  to  set  aside  all  the  princes  of 
the  blood  royal. 

Shortly  after  Henry  II. 's  death,  Catherine,  in 
her  dejection  at  the  loss  of  the  husband  she  had 
loved,  the  incapacity  of  her  eldest  son,  and  the  un- 
quiet state  of  the  kingdom,  which  threatened,  under 

1  We  see  this  brought  out  very  clearly  by  what  happened  a  year 
later,  on  the  death  of  Francis  II.,  in  the  case  of  the  Prince  of  Conde' 
and  the  King  of  Navarre,  whose  lives  were  only  able  to  be  saved  by 
Catherine,  because,  by  Francis  II.'s  death,  the  power  of  the  Guises  came 
to  an  end. 

2  Thus  depriving  of  his  office  the  deservedly  honoured  Montmorency, 
Constable  of  France,  who  had  given  long  and  good  service  to  Francis's 
father,  Henry  II. 


XX.]        VISION   OF  THE    KINGS   OF  FRANCE         77 

the  intolerant   rule  of  the  Guises,  soon  to  bring 
heavy  troubles  upon  the  throne,  went  off  to  Chau- 
mont,  before  its  transfer  to  Diane  de  Poictiers  had 
been  effected,  to  consult  her  astrologer  Ruggieri 
(who  had  long  lived  there  in  a  set  of  apartments 
in  one  of  the  towers  of  the  castle)  as  to  the  future 
of  herself  and  her  sons.     And  then  ensued  that 
strange  "  Vision  of  the  future  Kings  of  France," 
of  which  one  Nicholas  Pasquier,  son  of  a  member 
of  the    States-General,  tells  us.      How   that   the 
Queen  Mother,  being  told   by  Ruggieri   to   gaze 
steadily  into  a  large  mirror   which   hung   on   the 
wall,   when  she   would   see   the   future    Kings   of 
France  appear  in  succession,  while  each  of  them 
would   reign   as   many   years  as  his  apparition  in 
the   mirror   made   complete   turns,   in  trepidation 
did   so.     First,  there  appeared   a  pale  and  sickly 
youth  whom  she  recognised  as  her  son  Francis  II., 
who  slowly  made  one  turn  and  then  faded  from 
her   view.     Next  came   her  son  Charles,   who,  as 
Catherine    breathlessly    watched,     made    thirteen 
turns  and  passed  out  of  sight.     He  was  followed 
by  her  son  Henry,  who  rapidly  made  fifteen  turns 
and  then  suddenly  vanished.    Then  entered  on  the 
scene  Henry  of  Navarre,  who,  as  Catherine  (now  un- 
able to  remove  her  gaze  from  this  strange  pageant) 
watched   as  one   spellbound,   made  twenty  turns, 
and  likewise  suddenly  disappeared.    Following  him 
came  a  bright  boy,^  who  continued  turning  again 
and  again  until,  when  he  had  done  so  thirty  times, 
Catherine  in  an   agony  cried   out  that  she  could 
look   no   more,   and    fainted   away.      So   at   least 
runs   the   legend.     And   the  next  day  Catherine, 

»  Louis  XIII. 


78  CATHERINE  DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

much  shaken  by  what  she  had  seen,  left  Chau- 
mont,  and  never  again  saw  the  chateau  where  she 
had  spent  so  many  gloomy  years,  and  the  last 
visit  to  which  had  been  marked  by  so  weird  an 
experience. 

But  the  residence  which  she  had  taken  in 
exchange  for  it  was  the  delight  of  Catherine's 
heart,  and  became  during  the  rest  of  her  life  her 
favourite  abode.  Situated  on  the  borders  of 
the  forest  of  Amboise,  Chenonceaux,  which  had 
originally  been  a  mill,  worked  by  the  waters  of 
the  river  Cher,  had  been  gradually  improved  by 
successive  owners  until  it  became  a  charming 
chateau,  which  about  the  year  1523  was  bought 
by  Francis  I.  Catherine  had  always  coveted  it, 
from  the  days  when  Francis  I.  had  taken  her 
there  on  some  of  their  hunting  trips  together. 
And  it  was  another  of  the  bitter  things  she  had 
had  to  bear  that  on  tlie  latter's  death  her  husband, 
Henry  II.,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  become  hers, 
gave  it  to  Diane  de  Poictiers.  The  latter  had 
since  enlarged  and  beautified  it,  and  Catherine, 
now  that  it  had  at  last  become  her  own,  was  bent 
upon  improving  it  still  further.  For  a  time,  how- 
ever, she  was  obliged  to  defer  these  plans  until 
public  affairs  should  become  less  troubled.  For 
the  condition  of  these  now  became  most  threaten- 
in  sr.  and  it  was  evident  that  at  the  rate  matters 
were  proceeding  the  throne  would  ere  long  be  in 
serious  danger. 

For  the  Guises  were  not  long  in  embark- 
ing on  the  course  they  had  determined  upon  as 
regards  Protestantism.     The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 


XX.]  THE  CARDINAL  OF  LORRAINE  79 

especially,  was  a  most  baneful  character  for  any- 
country  to  be  cursed  with,  being  a  violent  perse- 
cutor, loathed  by  the  people,  and  bent  upon  root- 
ing out  Protestantism  by  the  most  drastic  methods. 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  Queen  of  Navarre,  wrote  of  him 
that  he  "  would  like  to  set  households  by  the  ears 
all  over  France. "  And  he  certainly  succeeded  in 
doing  so.  Under  his  administration  of  the  country 
the  most  cruel  persecution  of  Protestants  at  once  set 
in ;  and  when  after  a  short  time  Anne  du  Bourg, 
a  sincere  and  earnestly  religious  man  of  very  tem- 
perate views  and  high  character,  a  "  Moderate," 
and  a  leading  member  of  the  Parlevient,  was 
condemned  and  put  to  death  by  the  Guises  for 
being  a  Protestant,  matters  reached  a  climax. 
The  Protestants  (backed,  it  is  said,  by  Elizabeth 
of  England)  laid  a  plot  while  the  court  was  at 
Blois  to  capture  and  put  to  death  the  Guises, 
and,  if  possible,  to  seize  the  young  King  and  make 
him  a  Protestant ;  or,  if  he  refused,  to  make  the 
Prince  of  Cond^  King.  Catherine  did  not  know 
what  they  were  planning  to  do,  but  she  was  entirely 
opposed  to  the  way  in  which  the  Protestants  were 
being  treated  (as  she  considered  that  toleration 
was  the  only  safe  course  for  the  kingdom)  and 
hated  the  Guises,  though  as  long  as  her  son  was 
ruled  by  his  wife,  and  both  of  them  by  the  uncles 
of  the  latter,  Catherine  had  to  stand  aside  and 
look  on.     But  she  writes : — 

"  When  I  see  these  poor  people  burnt,  beaten, 
and  tormented,  not  for  thieving  or  marauding, 
but  simply  for  upholding  their  religious  opinions, 
when  I  see  some  of  them  suffer  cheerfully,  with 
a  glad  heart,   I   am  forced  to  believe  that  there 


80  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

is   something   in   this  which  transcendeth    human 
understanding."  ^ 

The  Protestants,  knowing  of  this  sympathetic 
attitude  on  her  part,  and  not  knowing  how  small 
her  power  was,  appealed  to  her  against  what  was 
being  done  on  the  King's  authority  under  the 
administrative  powers  which  had  been  granted 
by  him  to  the  Guises,  and  she,  unwilling  to 
acknowledge  how  powerless  she  was,  extracted  a 
promise  from  the  latter  to  stop  the  persecutions ; 
but  she  could  really  effect  nothing,  and  the 
persecutions  continued.^  However,  after  a  time 
she  succeeded  in  getting  a  decree  issued  by  the 
King  forbidding  the  persecution  of  Protestants ; 
but  the  Guises  had  no  intention  of  obeying  any 
such  decree,  and  practically  snapped  their  fingers 
in  her  face,  Catherine  consulted  Admiral  CoHgny 
as  to  what  could  be  done,  and  he  told  her  (what 
she  knew  already)  that  the  Guises  were  "  hated 
Hke  the  pest,  and  alone  to  blame  for  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country  "  ;  but  it  was  easier  to  say 
this  than  to  discover  how  to  oust  the  Guises,  who 
had  become  practically  kings  of  France.  Mean- 
while the  Protestants  were  elaborating  their  plot, 
regarding  which  Calvin  afterwards  said :  "  Never 
was  enterprise  worse  conceived,  or  more  stupidly 
carried  out."  The  English  Roman  Catholics  were 
suffered  to  find  it  out,  and  they  informed  the 
Duke  of  Guise ;    whereupon  the  latter  promptly 

»  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  edited  by  the  Comte  de  la  Ferriere. 

.  ^  The  promise  obtained  from  the  Guises  that  the  persecutions  should 

be  discontinued  was  communicated  to  the  Protestants  ;   when  in  spite 

of  it  the  persecutions  continued,  they  put  it  down  to  duplicity  on 

Catherine's  part. 


XX. 3  THE   AMBOISE   PLOT  61 

removed  the  King,  the  Queen  Mother,  and  the 
court  from  Blois  to  Amboise  (which  was  a  more 
secure  abode),  and  awaited  events. 

At  Amboise  the  Guises,  who  desired  to  make 
the  matter  aj^pear  as  formidable  as  possible  to 
the  King,  so  that  they  might  punish  with  the 
greater  severity  those  implicated  in  it,  kept  the 
court  in  almost  as  complete  confinement  as  though 
they  were  in  a  state  of  siege,  the  gates  of  the 
castle  being  shut,  and  the  neighboiu-ing  roads 
patrolled  by  parties  of  cavalry.  In  March  1560 
the  conspirators  made  their  attempt  to  capture 
the  Guises  and  the  King,  but  in  such  a  feeble 
and  desultory  fashion  that  from  first  to  last  the 
so-called  conspiracy  presented  no  real  danger  to 
those  concerned.  So  much  so  that  there  is  even 
an  appearance  throughout  the  affair  of  the  Protes- 
tants having  been  deliberately  led  on  by  the 
Guises  to  make  the  attempt  in  order  that  the 
latter  might  be  able  to  destroy  as  many  of  them  as 
possible.  Whether  this  were  the  case  or  not,  the 
attempt  was  made  in  a  manner  most  inadequate 
for  such  an  enterprise.  A  few  of  the  conspirators 
were  found  by  the  cavalry  patrols  lurking  in  a 
wood  near  the  castle ;  a  day  or  two  later  a  larger 
band  were  captured ;  Condd,  who  had  secretly 
been  head  of  the  plot,  deserted  his  followers  with 
their  consent,  and  took  his  place  at  court  as  though 
he  had  had  no  connection  with  the  conspiracy ; 
the  rest  of  the  conspirators,  instead  of  thereupon 
abandoning  the  enterprise,  as  they  would  have 
been  wise  to  do,  foolishly  advanced  against  the 
castle,  though  they  could  never  have  expected  to 
take  it.     Their  attack,  feebly  carried  out,  was  easily 

VOL.  II.  F 


S^  CATHERINF:  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

repulsed ;  in  the  retreat  the  greater  number  of 
them  were  taken  prisoners ;  and  the  plot  colhipsed. 

The  Guises,  who  headed  the  Roman  Catholic 
party,  by  causing  the  King  to  place  in  their  hands 
the  entire  civil  and  military  administration  of  the 
kingdom,  were  not  only  able  to  persecute  their 
religious  opponents  with  impunity,  but  could  also 
declare  any  actions  of  the  latter  in  retaliation  to 
be  acts  of  treason  against  the  King.  And  it  was 
exactly  this  making  the  throne  take  a  side  (carry- 
ing with  it  consequences  of  this  kind),  which 
Catherine,  when  a  year  later  she  came  into  power, 
refused  to  adopt.  But  the  Guises,  being  violent 
partisans  who  were  determined  to  root  out  their 
opponents,  cared  for  no  such  considerations,  and 
were  governed  by  one  sole  aim,  that  of  making 
their  own  party  triumphant ;  they  therefore  now 
proceeded  to  punish  all  those  whom  they  had 
captured,  not  as  heretics,  but  as  persons  guilty 
of  treason  against  the  King.  By  this  means,  not- 
withstanding the  King's  decree  forbidding  any 
further  executions  on  account  of  religion,  they 
would  be  able  nevertheless  to  put  to  death  a 
large  number  of  important  Protestants. 

From  the  prisoners,  under  torture,  the  Guises 
learnt  (if  they  did  not  know  it  before)  that  there 
had  never  been  any  danger  to  the  King,  and  that 
the  whole  plot  was  aimed  at  themselves  alone ; 
and  their  vengeance,  inspired,  not  only  by  the 
desire  of  the  triumph  of  their  party,  but  also  by 
fears  for  their  own  safety,  was  cruel  and  vindictive. 
Every  Protestant  throughout  the  country  round 
upon  whom  their  soldiers  could  lay  hands  was 
summarily    hanged,    drowned    in    the    Loire,    or 


XX.]  THE   GUISES'    VENGEANCE  83 

brought  to  the  castle  to  be  beheaded.  These 
massacres  of  their  opponents  went  on  for  a 
month ;  every  part  of  the  walls  of  the  castle  was 
disfigured  by  heads  of  the  slain ;  and  the  Guises, 
in  order  to  implicate  the  members  of  the  court 
in  their  proceedings,  forced  them  whenever  they 
could  to  witness  these  executions,  even  the  Prince 
of  Conde  being  compelled  by  tliem  to  do  so. 
Finally,  in  order  to  strike  terror  into  all  who 
might  think  of  engaging  in  such  plots  against 
their  power  in  future,  as  well  as  to  assist  in 
giving  the  desired  appearance  of  a  condemnation 
for  treason  against  the  King,  the  Guises  arranged 
a  public  execution  of  the  fifty  -  seven  principal 
prisoners,  and  made  it  as  impressive  as  possible. 
They  du'ccted  that  the  execution  (fixed  for  the 
30th  March)  should  be  carried  out  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  court,  and  issued  notices  throughout 
the  surrounding  country,  proclaiming  the  execu- 
tion and  ordering  all  to  be  present  at  it.  In 
obedience  to  this  order  the  people  came  in  crowds, 
and  occupied  hill-tops,  roofs  of  houses,  and  every 
point  from  which  the  scaffold  was  visible ;  while 
for  the  meml)ers  of  the  court  the  Guises  arranged 
seats  in  tiers  round  the  open  space,  as  if  for  a 
fete.  When  the  whole  court,  with  the  young 
King  and  Queen  and  their  attendants,  the  Queen 
Mother  and  her  ladies,  and  the  Princes  of  the 
Blood,  including  the  Prince  of  Condd  himself,  had 
taken  their  places,  the  Duke  of  Guise  placed 
himself  close  to  the  scaffold  on  horseback,  and 
one  by  one  the  fifty-seven  gentlemen  condemned 
to  death  laid  their  heads  on  the  block  and  were 
beheaded.     Catherine  and   the   whole   court   were 


84  CATIIEUINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

so  horrified  at  this  dreadful  spectacle  that  they 
were  thankful  to  leave  Amboise  on  the  following 
day  for  Chenonceaux,  where  Catherine,  "  to  get 
rid  of  the  horror  of  blood, "  arranged  a  series  of 
garden  fetes  to  wipe  out  the  effect  of  the  terrible 
scenes  which  the  Guises  had  created  for  them 
during  the  month  they  had  passed  at  Amboise. 
Thus  did  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  and  his  brother 
Charles  light  the  fires  of  civil  war  in  France 
which  were  to  rage  over  that  country  for  more 
than  a  generation. 

By  certain  writers  Catherine's  conduct  in  con- 
nection with  the  above  episode  has  been  described 
with  every  epithet  of  condemnation.  One  French 
chronicler  declares  that  the  Guises  arranged  these 
executions  "as  a  distraction  for  the  ladies,  who 
were  becoming  bored  at  staying  so  long  in  one 
place " ;  others  state  that  "  Catherine  and  her 
ladies  were  present  at  the  spectacle,"  and  took 
pleasure  in  watching  the  tortures  inflicted  on  the 
Protestants  ;  others  that  these  executions  "  were 
witnessed  by  the  cold-hearted  Court  from  a 
balcony  as  if  they  had  been  stage-reprerjenta- 
tioDs " ;  ^  and  again,  that  Catherine  showed  her 
cruel  temperament  by  finding  fault  with  the 
Duchess  of  Guise  when  the  latter  wept  copiously 
at  "the  cruel  shedding  of  so  much  innocent 
blood  "^ — blood,  by  the  way,  which  was  being 
shed  by  that  lady's  own  husband  and  his  brothers. 
But    the    facts   do   not   appear   to   bear   out   this 

^  See  Miss  Sichel's  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.   109. 

2  It  was  this  same  Duchess  of  Guise,  however,  who  twelve  years  later 
took  a  very  different  attitude,  and  was  the  chief  instigator  of  her  son 
Henry,  Duke  of  Guise,  to  murder  Coligny  and  execute  the  massacre  of 
St  Bartholomew's  Day. 


XX.]         CHARGE   OF   COLD-HEARTEDNESS  85 

colour  which  tlie  French  Protestant  writers  have 
put  on  them,  though  it  was  one  natural  enough, 
perhaps,  to  the  friends  of  those  who  were  being 
put  to  death.  It  was  not  "  Catherine  and  her 
ladies,"  but  Francis  II.  and  his  court  (of  which 
they  formed  a  part),  who  looked  on  at  these 
executions.  And  it  was  not  as  an  "  amusement," 
or  from  a  wanton  pleasure  in  cruelty,^  that  they 
were  there,  though  the  arrangements  made  by  the 
Guises  no  doubt  caused  it  to  have  that  appearance 
to  those  whom  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  and  his 
brothers  thus  slaughtered.  So  far  from  its  being 
any  pleasure  to  the  court  to  be  there,  we  know 
that  both  Francis  II.,  Mary,  and  many  of  the  rest 
were  almost  fainting  from  the  dreadful  spectacle, 
and  that  it  was  just  because  Catherine  and  all  of 
them  felt  so  horrified  at  it  that  she  arranged  for 
them  all  to  quit  Amboise  next  day  and  depart 
to  Chenonceaux.  The  Guises  (in  whose  hands 
Francis  was  a  mere  puppet)  insisted  on  the 
presence  of  the  King  and  his  whole  court  at 
these  executions  with  a  threefold  object.  First, 
to  have  to  watch  such  an  execution  would  tend 
to  intimidate  all  at  the  court  who  (like  Cond^) 
might  be  inclined  to  take  part  with  the  enemies 
of  the  house  of  Guise.  Second,  the  presence  of  the 
members  of  the  court  on  such  an  occasion  would 
tend  to  embroil  them  with  the  Protestants ;  which 
was  just  the  effect  it  had,  causing  the  Protestant 
writers  to  declare  that  they  were  there  as  an 
amusement,  and  to  inveigh  against  them  for  such 
heartless    cruelty.       Third,    any    member    of    the 

'  The  highest  authority  has  said  that  Catherine  de'  Medici  "had  no 
natural  tendency  to  cruelty."     {The  Cambridge  History,  vol,  Ui.  chap,  i.) 


86  CATHERINE    DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

court  who  refused  to  be  present  at  the  execution 
of  those  who  had  plotted  against  the  King's 
authority  and  made  an  organised  attack  on  his 
residence,  could  ipso  facto  be  pointed  at  by  the 
Guises  as  being  an  enemy  of  the  King  and  a 
friend  of  those  who  had  desired  to  make  him 
their  prisoner.  It  is  not  likely,  for  instance,  that 
Cond^  would  have  been  present  as  a  spectator 
at  the  execution  of  those  whose  leader  he  had 
been,  and  who  still  honoured  him,^  if  he  had 
not  been  forced  in  this  manner.  Hence,  neither 
Catherine  nor  any  other  lady  of  the  court  could 
be  absent ;  and  we  see  this  exemplified  in  the 
case  of  Anna  d'Este,  Duchess  of  Guise,  who, 
when  she  refused  to  go  to  the  execution,  was 
dragged  there  by  the  Guises  by  physical  force ; 
and  when  subsequently  she  said  that  she  was 
sure  God  would  have  vengeance  on  those  who 
took  so  many  worthy  gentlemen's  lives,  she 
endured  much  rough  treatment  and  anger  from 
her  husband's  brothers  in  consequence.  And  if 
Catherine  said  anything  to  her  at  all  on  account 
of  her  weeping  (which  is  very  doubtful),  it  was 
nothing  more  than  a  remark  intended  to  urge  her 
to  maintain  a  due  amount  of  self-control. 

Moreover,  Catherine  did  not  remain  passive 
during  these  proceedings  of  the  Guises.  She 
made  a  strong  endeavour  to  save  the  lives  of 
many  of  the  prisoners,  and  we  are  told  "  tried 
everything  she  could,  even  seeking  out  these  new 
kings "  in  their  chambers,  and  caressing  them  " ; 
but   without    avail,   for    the    Guises   were    deter- 

'  Many  of  them  saluted  him  before  laying  their  heads  on  the  block. 
*  The  Guises. 


XX.]  WOMEN   OF  THEIR   TIME  87 

mined  to  slay  them  all.  It  is  also  noteworthy  (as 
showing  that  these  condemnatory  remarks  upon 
Catherine  in  connection  with  this  episode  proceed 
more  from  bias  than  from  any  sohd  basis  of  fact) 
that  although  JNIary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  likewise 
present  at  this  execution,  and  as  Queen  of  France 
occupied  at  least  as  important  a  position  at  it  as 
the  Queen  IM  other,  while  also  we  do  not  hear  of 
her  having  importuned  her  uncles  on  behalf  of 
the  lives  of  any  of  these  prisoners  as  Catherine 
had  done,  yet  none  have  ever  made  similar  remarks 
regarding  JMary,  Queen  of  Scots,  in  the  matter. 

The  fact  is  that  these  ladies  were  all  of  them 
women  of  their  time,  and  that  to  look  on  at  an 
execution  of  this  kind  was  not  the  same  thing 
to  them  as  it  would  be  to  any  one  in  these  days. 
France  was  becoming  far  too  much  accustomed 
to  such  cruel  deeds  for  women  to  fail  to  grow 
more  or  less  callous  to  such  sights.  We  may 
also  remember  that  these  ladies  could  both  look 
on  at  executions,  and  also  bear  themselves  with 
calmness  and  fortitude  when  their  own  turn  came 
to  suffer  in  like  manner.  Their  doing  the  former 
is  no  proof  of  cruelty  on  their  part,  as  it  would 
be  in  our  days.  And  we  who  live  in  more 
peaceful  times  are  in  error  if  we  impute  cruelty 
to  them  owing  to  our  judging  their  actions  by  a 
standard  which  relates  to  an  entirely  different  set 
of  conditions. 

Catherine  now  succeeded  in  getting  a  council 
on  the  subject  of  the  religious  differences  assembled 
at  Fontainebleau ;  and  at  this  council,  notwith- 
standing   the    angry   frowns    of  the    Guises    and 


88  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

their  puppet  the  King,  she  spoke  boldly  against 
the  policy  which  was  being  pursued  regarding  the 
Protestants,  and  stated  that  one  half  the  people 
were  Protestants,  and  asked  sarcastically  "if  it 
was  supposed  that  the  sword  could  be  used  against 
them  all."  Nevertheless  matters  did  not  mend ; 
and  throughout  the  summer  of  1560  plots  on 
the  part  of  the  Protestants  for  a  general  rising 
throughout  the  south  of  France  (including  the 
seizure  of  Lyons),  and  imprisonments  and  execu- 
tions of  prominent  Protestants  on  the  part  of  the 
Guises,  continued  to  take  place. 

One  artifice  of  the  Guises  did  Catherine  much 
harm  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  France,  while 
it  has  largely  affected  the  wi'itings  of  the  contem- 
porary French  historians  who  deal  with  the  events 
of  these  seventeen  months.  So  long  as  the  puppet 
King  was  entirely  under  their  dominion,  and  so 
long  as  the  entire  civil  and  military  rule  of  the 
country  was  by  his  decree  vested  in  them,  the 
Guises  knew  that  neither  Catherine  nor  any  one 
else  could  interfere  with  them.  At  the  same  time 
they  knew  how  greatly  they  were  hated  by  the 
people ; '  and  to  shield  themselves  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  odium  caused  by  their  actions, 
they  made  the  incapable  youth  who  was  their 
tool,  in  authorising  their  proceeding;,  from  time 
to  time  quote  also  his  mother's  name  as  he  had 
done  in  his  original  decree ;  thus  making  it  appear 
as  though  their  actions  were  done  with  Catherine's 
concurrence.  And  although  she  opposed  them  on 
every  occasion  at  the  court,  she  was  powerless  to 

^  Among  other  communications  of  a  similar  kind  a  celebrated 
pamphlet  was  sent  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  entitled  A  Letter 
to  the  Tiger  of  France, 


XX.]  ATTACK   ON   THE    BLOOD   ROYAL  89 

take  any  action  wliich  would  right  her  in  the  eyes 
of  the  country  so  long  as  the  position  remained 
the  same  with  regard  to  Francis.  However,  a 
time  was  rapidly  approaching  when  she  would 
be  fieed  from  this  position,  and  be  able  to  show 
all  men  what  her  real  attitude  was. 

The  Guises  now  began  to  fly  at  higher  game, 
and  planned  to  achieve  the  death  both  of  the 
Prince  of  Condd  and  his  brother,  Antoine  de 
Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre,  the  two  leading 
members  of  the  Protestant  party ;  and  were  not 
deterred  even  by  the  fact  that  they  were  of  the 
blood  royal,  and  next  in  succession  to  the  throne 
after  Catherine's  sons.  Conde  especially  was  known 
by  them  to  have  been  a  party  both  to  the  plot 
which  had  ended  at  Amboise,  and  to  that  for  the 
seizure  of  Lyons.  Accordingly  in  September  the 
Guises  caused  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince 
of  Conde  to  be  summoned  by  the  King  to  the 
court  (which  was  then  at  Orleans),  the  King 
stating  that  he  wished  them  to  come  and  refute 
their  accusers,  and  promising  them  a  safe-conduct 
and  a  friendly  reception.  Catherine  could  not 
have  known  what  the  Guises  meant  to  do,  nor 
would  they  have  dreamed  of  letting  her  know  it, 
and  she  no  doubt  did  not  believe  that  they  would 
dare  to  take  the  lives  of  princes  of  the  blood 
royal ;  for  when  Navarre  and  his  brother  showed 
reluctance  to  come,  she  wrote  begging  them  to 
do  so  as  the  King  wished  it  so  much,  and  that 
she  and  all  the  court  would  receive  them  hospi- 
tably. On  tlieir  arrival  at  court  Cond^  was  at 
once  seized  under  the  orders  of  the  Duke  of  Guise, 


90  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

and  thrown  into  prison  as  a  preliminary  to  his 
execution  for  high  treason ;  while  for  the  King 
of  Navarre,  who  could  not  be  thus  accused,  the 
Guises  had  another  plan.  So  far  from  Catherine 
having  plotted  to  take  the  lives  of  Conde  and  the 
King  of  Navarre,  as  has  been  maintained,^  her 
subsequent  conduct  in  this  affair  completely  dis- 
proves the  assertion.^ 

The  plot  to  which  the  Guises  persuaded  Francis 
to  agree,  and  which  they  carefully  kept  concealed 
from  Catherine,  knowing  that  she  would  find 
means  to  frustrate  it,  was  that  he  should  summon 
Navarre  to  come  to  his  apartment  in  a  private 
manner  and  unattended.  The  only  attendants  on 
the  King  would  be  themselves  and  the  Marshal  de 
Saint  Andre.  Francis  was  to  reproach  Navarre 
with  the  state  of  the  country,  and  then  in  a 
sudden  rage  to  strike  him  with  his  dagger,  when 
the  other  three  would  assail  him  as  defenders  of 
the  King's  person,  and  despatch  him. 

But  Catherine  heard  of  the  plot  just  in  time. 
She  hastily  sent  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier  to 
warn  Navarre  of  it,  and  told  him  not  to  go  when 
an  invitation  came  to  him  from  the  King ;  at  the 
same  time  she  herself  went  to  her  son  and  used  all 
her  powers  to  prevent  him  from  obeying  the  Guises' 
commands  in  this  matter.  The  account  of  what 
took  place,  and  of  how  Catherine  had  saved  his 
life,  was  afterwards  related  by  Navarre  to  his  wife, 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  who  published  it  in  a  manifesto  in 
1568.  He  told  his  wife  that  in  accordance  with 
the  Queen  Mother's  warning  he  disregarded  the 

^  See  Miss  Sichel's  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.  113. 

•  See  below  as  regards  Navarre,  and  pp.  93-94  as  regards  Cond^. 


XX.]  SAVES   NAVARRE'S   LIFE  91 

first  invitation  he  received  from  the  King,  but  on 
receiving  a  second  summons,  thought  it  would 
appear  cowardly  to  refuse,  and  went.  As  soon 
as  he  entered  the  room  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine 
closed  the  door  carefully  behind  him.  The  King 
received  him,  wearing  his  dagger,  and  reproached 
him  bitterly  as  he  had  been  instructed  to  do ;  but 
Navarre,  owing  to  the  warning  he  had  received, 
replied  in  so  humble  a  fashion  that  he  gave  no 
opportunity  to  the  King  to  display  any  wrath, 
and  after  a  time  Francis  allowed  him  to  depart 
unharmed,  to  the  intense  rage  of  the  Cardinal  de 
Lorraine,  who,  in  disgust  at  the  failure  of  the  plot, 
as  he  departed  burst  out  with  "  Voila  le  plus 
poltron  cceur  que  fiit  jamais."  Catherine  was 
overjoyed  at  having  been  thus  successful  in  saving 
Navarre's  life,  and  herself  related  her  part  in  it  to 
his  wife,  Jeanne  d'Albret. 

But  the  Prince  of  Condd  was  still  held  fast 
in  prison,  and  the  Guises,  who  knew  that  he 
was  their  chief  opponent,  were  determined  that  his 
life  at  all  events  should  not  be  saved.  Catherine 
had  succeeded  in  getting  his  prison  changed  from 
Orleans  to  Amboise,  but  that  was  all  she  could 
effect ;  and  she  writes  an  ambiguously  worded 
letter,  saying  how  strong  the  latter  place  was  and 
how  impossible  it  would  be  for  him  to  escape 
thence  (apparently  with  the  object  of  showing 
that  the  Guises  need  have  no  objection  to 
Amboise  as  the  place  of  his  incarceration),  con- 
cluding with,  "  I  do  not  think  that  there  is  any 
place   in   all    France  where   the   Prince  could   be 


92  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

safer  or  better  looked  after."  ^  That  she  intended 
to  save  his  hfe  if  she  could  is  fully  proved  by 
what  happened  immediately  afterwards ;  so  that 
whatever  else  this  letter  may  mean,  it  certainly 
does  not  mean  that  she  intended  to  help  the 
Guises  to  effect  their  purpose.  Nevertheless,  the 
latter  secured  Condi's  condemnation  to  death, 
and  got  the  sentence  of  death  signed  by  the  King, 
and  the  10th  December  fixed  as  the  date  of  the 
execution.  The  Guises  would  not  suffer  even 
Condd's  wife  to  see  him,  not  even  when  she 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  do  so  once  before  he 
died  "  to  give  him  courage." 

Just  at  this  juncture  Francis  II.  fell  ill;  and 
a  few  days  later  this  incapable  youth  breathed 
his  last,  after  a  reign  of  seventeen  months.  He 
died  on  5th  December  1560,  his  name  hated 
throughout  France  owing  to  his  surrender  of  him- 
self and  his  kingdom  to  such  a  rule  as  that  of 
the  Guises. 

(1561-1574) 

On  Francis  II.'s  death  Catherine's  second  son, 
Charles,  a  boy  of  ten,  succeeded  to  the  throne. 
Catherine  was  made,  during  his  minority.  Queen 
Resent  of  France.  And  the  first  act  of  her 
power  was  one  which  tells  directly  against  the 
view  ordinarily  held  of  her.     The   death   of  the 

^  This  letter  Miss  Sichel  takes  as  evidence  that  Catherine  was  plotting 
Conde's  death.  Not  only,  however,  does  Catherine's  conduct  a  few  days 
later  entirely  disprove  this,  but  also  it  is  to  be  noted  that  tlie  latter 
writes  in  exactly  the  same  strain  (using  almost  the  identical  words)  about 
her  own  son,  the  Due  d'Alengon,  when,  about  twelve  years  afterwards, 
she  kept  him  temporarily  a  prisoner  at  Amboise,  to  keep  him  out  of 
mischief,  on  which  occasion  she  writes  to  Guise  :  "The  place  is  strong 
and  massive,  and  tlie  little  frog  (her  name  for  Alengon)  caimot  possiblj- 
get  away  from  it." 


XX.)  SAVES  CONDE^S  LIFE  93 

Prince  of  Conde,  who  was  marked  out  as  the 
leader  of  the  Protestant  party,  and  whom  they 
were  ah-eady  proposing  to  make  King,  must  have 
seemed  highly  desirable,  not  only  in  the  interests 
of  Catherine's  sons,  but  also  in  the  cause  of 
France ;  since  the  death  of  their  leader  might 
be  expected  to  paralyse  the  Protestants,  and 
prevent  their  commencing  a  civil  war,  as  they 
were  now  proposing  to  do.  Catherine,  whose 
affetto  di  signoreggiare  had  at  last  a  chance  of 
being  gratified,  desired  greatly  that  scope  for 
showing  her  ability  for  ruling  which  she  would 
have  as  Queen  Regent  on  behalf  of  a  boy  of 
ten.  On  the  other  hand,  Conde's  existence  seri- 
ously threatened  this  ;  he  had  already  headed  two 
plots  in  succession  which  had  as  their  object  to 
place  him  on  the  throne  instead  of  Catherine's 
sons ;  and  he  had  been  openly  spoken  of  by  the 
Protestants  as  "Louis  XIII."  Conde,  in  his 
prison,  was  ignorant  of  Francis  II.'s  death,  and 
supposed  that  he  himself  had  but  four  days  more 
to  live ;  and  Catherine  had  only  to  let  the  law 
take  its  course. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  course  which 
Catherine  adopted.     We  are  told : — 

"  Guise  saw  that  his  power  was  at  an  end, 
knowing  that  during  the  minority  of  the  next 
King  the  Queen  Mother  would  be  Regent.  He 
at  once  went  to  her,  and  urged  her  with  all  his 
force,  for  the  sake  of  her  own  and  her  son's 
safety,  to  allow  the  sentence  of  death  which  had 
been  passed  against  Conde  to  be  carried  out,  and 
also  to  put  to  death  the  King  of  Navarre."^ 

^  The  Cambridge  Modem  Hiatory,  vol.  iii.  chap.  i. 


94  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

Catherine  flatly  refused,  countermanded  tlie  exe- 
cution, and  ordered  Cond^  to  be  set  at  liberty. 
She  then  sent  for  the  King  of  Navarre,  told  him 
she  had  had  no  hand  in  the  schemes  to  take 
the  lives  of  himself  and  his  brother,  and  offered 
him  her  friendship  on  two  conditions ;  first,  that 
he  would  forego  his  claim  to  the  Regency  (for 
which  he  had  small  desire  and  was  not  fit),  and, 
second,  that  he  would  make  peace  with  the 
Guises  so  that  there  should  be  an  end  to  the 
strife  between  the  two  religious  parties  which 
was  threatening  to  desolate  France.  These  terms 
he  accepted,  and  he  also  was  set  at  liberty ; 
though  Catherine  must  have  had  grave  doubts 
whether  he  would  keep  the  second  promise ;  and 
she  would  have  been  justified,  for  he  very  quickly 
broke  it. 

Thus  did  Catherine  make  her  first  essay  in 
that  long  endeavour  to  be  a  peacemaker  to  France 
which  was  to  continue  through  so  many  years. 
We  who  have  followed  the  course  of  the  Medici 
have  seen  at  least  three  other  occasions  in  which 
conduct  similar  to  this  was  displayed  by  them ; 
and  as  Condi's  prison  doors  roll  back  we  seem 
to  hear  an  echo  of  Lorenzo's  speech  that  "he 
who  knows  how  to  forgive  knows  how  to  rule." 

Catherine,  on  becoming  Queen  Regent,  showed 
at  once  the  line  she  intended  to  adopt  of  endeavour- 
ing to  maintain  on  the  part  of  the  throne  that 
attitude  of  toleration  towards  both  the  religious 
parties  which  she  justly  considered  to  furnish  the 
only  hope  of  preserving  the  country  from  the 
horrors  of  a  desperate  civil  war.     ^Vithin  a  month 


XX.]  HER   FIRST   EDICT  95 

of  her  being  installed  in  power  as  Queen  Regent 
she  published  a  royal  Edict,  dated  28th  January 
1561,  stopping  all  persecutions  in  consequence  of 
religion,  releasing  all  who  were  in  prison  on  that 
account,  and  ordering  that  there  should  be  full 
liberty  given  to  the  Protestant  religion  throughout 
France.  At  the  same  time  she  wrote  to  the  Pope 
demanding  that  Communion  in  both  kinds  sliould 
be  administered  to  the  laity,  that  prayers  should 
be  said  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  that  certain 
other  reforms  in  Church  matters  desired  by  the 
Protestants  should  be  carried  out.  For  the  above 
Edict  she  was,  of  course,  abused  by  the  Roman 
Catliolic  party,  who  under  the  regime  of  the 
Guises  had  nourislied  high  hopes  of  seeing 
Protestantism  stamped  out  in  France ;  and  when 
a  httle  later  she  similarly  granted  concessions  for 
which  the  Roman  Catholics  asked,  she  incurred 
like  abuse  from  the  Protestant  party ;  though 
there  were  a  few  among  the  latter  who  took 
a  more  balanced  view,  as,  for  instance,  Languet, 
who  wrote  that  she  "sought  to  moderate  all 
things."  And  throughout  the  years  that  followed 
we  find  her  always  struggling  to  maintain  the  same 
attitude,  and  incurring  odium  now  from  one  side 
and  now  from  the  other  in  consequence ;  so  that 
among  the  writings  of  the  day  the  assertions  as  to 
her  "  duplicity  "  and  "  double-mindedness  "  throve 
apace.  This  endeavour  to  maintain  (or  recover) 
peace  by  holding  the  balance  between  the  two 
parties  who  divided  France  is  the  key  to  all 
Catherine's  conduct.  She  strove  for  it  earnestly 
while  as  yet  the  two  adversaries  were  only  drifting 
towards  war,  and  when    at   last  they  broke  into 


96  CATHERINE   1)E'   MEDICl  [chap. 

open  war  she  again  and  again  brought  about  peace 
by  the  same  method ;  though  only  to  find  her 
efforts  nuUified  by  their  inability  to  live  peaceably 
together.  And  this  long  and  strenuous  effort  as 
a  peacemaker  to  France  (notwithstanding  that  by 
no  fault  of  hers  it  failed  of  permanent  success) 
will  ever  remain  Catherine's  chief  claim  to  praise. 

But  the  dark  clouds  which  had  gathered  over 
France  were  not  to  be  dispelled  by  any  such  efforts, 
forcibly  as  Catherine  made  them,  nor  until  long- 
continued  storm  had  poured  itself  out  upon  that 
country.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  remaining 
twenty-eight  years  of  her  life  that  storm  raged, 
and  during  that  time  France  saw  no  less  than 
eight  religious  wars  follow  each  other  in  succes- 
sion ;  while  the  short  interludes  of  peace  were 
each  scarcely  more  than  a  truce  during  which 
the  two  antagonists  collected  their  strength  for 
a  fresh  contest.  And  bitter  indeed  was  this 
conflict.  Mezeray,  who  wrote  about  fifty  years 
after  Catherine's  death,  says : — 

"  If  any  one  were  to  relate  all  that  took  place 
at  this  time,  in  different  parts  of  France,  all  the 
taking  and  retaking  of  towns,  the  infinity  of  small 
combats,  the  mutual  insults  and  retaliations,  the 
furies,  the  massacres,  it  would  take  up  an  immense 
number  of  volumes." 

Before,  however,  this  great  contest  began, 
Catherine,  during  the  year  1561,  made  three 
splendid  efforts  to  avert  it.  With  a  greater 
breadth  of  view  than  any  one  else  in  either  France 
or  England  at  that  time  possessed,  she  formed  a 
plan  to  assemble  a  National  Church  Council  of  the 


XX.]  A   NATIONAL   CHURCH   COUNCIL  97 

leading  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholic  authorities 
in  France,  and  to  direct  their  deliberations  herself 
"071  the  lines  of  studying-  the  institutions  of  the 
Primitive  Church,  investigating  how  far  divergencies 
from  the  latter  were  the  cause  of  the  complaints 
made  by  the  Protestants,  and  seeking  to  arrive 
at  a  settlement  on  this  basis."  ^  This  was  a  most 
remarkable  proposal ;  there  was  no  other  sovereign 
in  Europe  then,  or  for  many  generations  after- 
wards, who  could  have  conceived  the  idea  of 
assembling  such  a  council  and  of  personally  direct- 
ing its  deliberations  on  the  lines  proposed.'-^  And 
perhaps  no  other  act  of  Catherine's  more  strongly 
brings  out  the  ability  and  breadth  of  view  which 
had  been  brought  to  the  service  of  France  by  a 
Medici  coming  to  occupy  that  throne.  The  idea 
was  entirely  Catherine's  own,  and  her  letters  show 
how  much  she  hoped  for  from  it ;  and  had  she 
been  able  to  carry  out  her  own  strong  desire  to 
keep  the  matter  a  strictly  national  one,  and  to 
prevent  all  outside  interference,  it  is  probable  that 
success  might  have  crowned  her  efforts,  and  France 
have  been  saved  from  all  the  miseries  of  the  most 
terrible  period  in  the  history  of  that  country. 

The  proclamation  ordering  the  assembly  of 
this  National  Church  Council  was  issued  on  the 
25th  July,  and  on  the  9th  September  1561  (three 
weeks  after  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  a  widow  of 
nineteen,  had  bidden  a  sad  adieu  to  France,  and 
sailed  for  Scotland),  the  Council  assembled  at  the 

'  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  iii.  chap.  i.  It  took  the  Church 
of  England  exactly  one  Imndred  years  to  find  (in  1661)  peace  at  last 
(after  her  long  conflict)  on  the  same  basis. 

■^  Elizabeth  of  England,  for  instance,  could  not  have  done  so  ;  and  if 
she  could  not,  it  is  certain  tliat  none  other  could. 

VOL.  II.  a 


98  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

monastery  of  Poissy,  near  Saint-Germain.'     On  the 
Protestant  side  were  thirty-two  leading  Protestant 
ministers,  Jeanne  d'Albret  (who  was  looked  upon 
as  a  host  in  herself),  the  Prince  of  Condd,  Admiral 
Coligny,  and  a  number  of  Protestant  nobles  ;  while 
on  the  Roman  Catholic  side  were  forty  bishops, 
six  cardinals,  twelve  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  Guise.     The  Queen  Regent,  with  the  boy  King 
and  the  rest  of  the  royal  family,  the  members  of 
the  Council  of  State,  the  Chancellor,  Michel  de 
I'Hopital,    and   other   important   members   of  the 
court,    made    up    one    of    the    most    impressive 
assemblages   which    France    had    ever   witnessed. 
Catherine   opened    the    proceedings   by   a   speech 
expressing  a  hope  that  the  debates  might  be  so 
conducted  as   to    bring    peace    to   the    kingdom. 
Fine   addresses   were    delivered   by   the   principal 
leaders  on  either  side,  and  at  first  Catlierine  hoped 
for  success.     But   on   the    19th    September   there 
arrived  Cardinal  Ippolito   d'Este  of  Ferrara,  who 
held  three  archbishoprics  in  France,  and  also  came 
as  legate  from  the   Pope,   and  with  secret  orders 
from  the  latter  to  stop  the  proceedings.     And  from 
the  moment  of  his  arrival  all  chance  of  a  settle- 
ment between  the   two   parties  ended.     Frequent 
scenes  and  furious   discussions   brought  about  an 
entire  failure  of  this  effort  by  the  26th  September ; 
and  Catherine's  concluding  speech,  in  which  she 
dissolved    the    Council,    said: — "We    are    sorely 
grieved  that  this  meeting  hath  not  produced  that 
fruit  we  had  wished,  so  needful  for   the  love  of 
the  whole  Christian  Church." 

^  It  is  consequently  known  as  the  Council  of  Poissy. 


XX.]  A   SECOND   PLAN  TRIED  99 

.  Catherine  then  tried  another  plan,  and  to  avoid 
the  angry  recriminations  of  a  large  assembly  con- 
taining many  discordant  elements,  arranged  a 
smaller  conference,  consisting  of  five  of  the  lead- 
ing Protestant  ministers  and  five  of  the  principal 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  who  vi^ere  in  favour  of 
reforms.  This  conference  was  successful  in  arriv- 
ing at  a  settlement  satisfactory  to  both  parties,  and 
drew  up  a  joint  agreement  on  the  disputed  points 
concerning  the  Holy  Communion  (the  chief  point 
of  dissension),  and  submitted  this  agreement  to 
the  bishops  for  their  approval.  But  the  latter, 
knowing  that  the  Pope  would  never  agree  to  it, 
refused  their  assent.  Meanwhile,  Catherine  con- 
tinued to  carry  out  her  broad  -  minded  reforms 
with  a  view  to  an  equal  treatment  by  the  State  of 
both  religions  ;  various  important  posts  were  given 
to  Protestants,  fresh  decrees  furthering  religious 
liberty  were  continually  being  promulgated,  and 
Paris,  strongly  Roman  Catholic,  saw  appointed  as 
its  Governor  a  Protestant,  the  son  of  the  Constable 
Montmorency. 

But  Catherine's  difficulties  were  enormous. 
Not  only  were  constant  intrigues  by  both  the 
rival  parties  to  circumvent  each  other  taking  place 
even  while  these  conferences  were  being  carried  on, 
but  also  every  country  around  was  eager  to  take 
part  in  the  conflict  and  make  France  a  general 
battle  -  ground  in  which  the  religious  question 
which  di\'ided  Europe  should  be  fought  out; 
and  Catherine  had  to  strive  hourly  against  any- 
thing being  done  which  would  afford  a  pretext 
to  any  of  these  adjacent  powers  for  intervening 
in   the   strife.      Her    chief   embarrassments   came 


100  CATHERINE   DE'    MEDICI  [chap. 

from  the  fanatic  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  He  kept 
at  her  court  as  his  ambassador  Thomas  Perrenot 
de  Chantonnay,  a  man  employed  by  Philip  more 
in  the  capacity  of  a  detective  than  as  tlie  envoy 
of  a  foreign  power,  and  who  threateningly  told 
Catherine  that  he  "knew  every  detail  of  her 
days."  Through  him  Philip  IT.  menaced  her 
perpetually  with  an  armed  intervention  by  Spain 
on  behalf  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party  in  France. 
While  Chantonnay,  knowing  that  France  in  its 
present  disunited  state  was  powerless  to  resist  such 
an  invasion,  treated  the  Queen  with  the  utmost 
insolence  on  every  occasion  that  her  policy  of 
tolerance  caused  her  to  take  any  step  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Protestants.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  France  the  Emperor  was  closely  watching 
for  some  excuse  to  make  war  upon  Catherine  in 
order  to  recover  Metz ;  Elizabeth  of  England  was 
eagerly  on  the  look-out  for  some  pretext  for  taking 
arms  on  behalf  of  the  Protestants ;  while  from 
the  Italian  side  the  Pope  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
were  both  anxious  to  join  in  the  fray. 

Catherine  also  laboured  under  another  diffi- 
culty. Unlike  her  opponent  Elizabeth,  who  was 
surrounded  by  a  band  of  exceptionally  able  and 
reliable  counsellors,  Catherine  was  in  this  particular 
unusually  ill  provided  ;  and,  while  surrounded  by 
spies  who  watched  and  reported  to  their  own 
governments  every  word  and  look  of  hers,  she 
had  not,  as  she  truly  said  in  her  letters  to  her 
daughter,  a  single  person  about  her  in  whom  she 
could  trust.  At  the  very  time  that  the  conference 
with  a  view  to  a  peaceful  settlement  in  religion 
was    setting,    a    plot    was    set    on    foot    by    the 


J^x.j  HER   IMMENSE    DIFFICULTIES  101 

Protestants  to  carry  off  her  younger  son  Henry, 
and  set  him  up  as  a  rival  to  his  brother  Charles ; 
and  another  proposal  was  made  (even  in  her 
Council  of  State)  by  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
leaders  to  seize  herself  and  throw  her  into  the 
Seine  in  a  sack.  This  latter  proposition  she  had 
the  pleasure  of  herself  hearing  through  the  tube 
which  she  had  secretly  had  made  from  the  council 
chamber  to  her  apartment.  Added  to  these  various 
perplexities  she  had  daily  *'  to  exercise  blandish- 
ments, prayers,  and  remonstrances "  in  order  to 
keep  the  leaders  of  the  two  parties  from  coming 
to  blows  even  at  her  court.  And  when  the  strain 
of  so  many  anxieties  told  visibly  even  on  her 
strong  physique,  the  ambassador  Chantonnay  had 
the  insolence  to  tell  her  that  he  believed  that  her 
indisposition  was  merely  due  to  her  eating  too 
many  melons ;  to  which  she  replied  with  some 
dignity  that  "  it  was  not  the  fruits  of  the  garden, 
but  the  fruits  of  the  spirit,  which  made  her 
ill."  Well  might  one  of  those  acute  Venetian 
ambassadors  who  watched  and  reported  all  these 
proceedings  say  that  he  did  not  know  what  ruler 
would  not  have  made  mistakes  under  so  many 
difficulties,  and  express  surprise  that  she  did  not 
give  way  to  one  or  other  of  the  two  parties.  Nor 
did  any  termination  to  this  strain  appear  likely 
to  occur;  she  had  for  a  time  by  her  tolerant 
measures  put  down  the  flames  which  had  been 
ready  to  burst  forth,  but  none  saw  more  clearly 
than  Catherine  herself  that  they  were  not  put 
out;  and  what  she  said  in  writing  to  her 
ambassador  in  Spain  was  only  too  true : — "  The 
ashes  of  the  tire  which  has  gone  out  are  still  so 


102  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap 

hot  that  the  least  spark  will  make  them  leap  up 
into  bigger  flames  than  we  have  ever  seen." 

But  Catherine  was  not  yet  daunted ;  and 
although  both  her  first  and  second  attempts  to 
avert  the  impending  conflict  had  failed,  she 
made  yet  a  third.  Paris,  violently  opposed  to 
her  policy  of  toleration,  broke  out  into  tumults ; 
every  Sunday  there  was  fighting  of  some  sort 
round  the  churches ;  and  in  these  quarrels  lives 
on  both  sides  were  lost.  Whereupon  Chantonnay 
had  the  effi'ontery  to  tell  the  Queen  Regent  that 
if  she  did  not  quickly  put  an  end  to  these  heretics 
his  master  "would  come  to  the  assistance  of  her 
Catholic  subjects  and  would  certainly  make  war 
upon  her."  But  Catherine  came  of  a  family  who 
were  not  to  be  cowed  by  threats  like  this,  and  she 
told  him  bluntly  to  tell  his  master  that  she  *'  would 
be  mistress  in  her  own  house."  Accordingly,  in 
December  1561  she  called  a  meeting  of  the  States 
General  and  made  a  powerful  speech  in  favour  of 
a  policy  of  toleration,  and  then  summoned  a  third 
conference  between  the  two  parties  to  meet  at 
Saint-Germain  on  the  3rd  January  1562,  consisting 
of  "  thirty  Presidents  and  Councillors  chosen  from 
the  eight  Parlements^  and  twenty  members  of  the 
Privy  Council  including  the  Princes  of  the  Blood." 
The  proceedings  began  with  a  remarkable  speech 
from  the  Chancellor  in  favour  of  allowing  the  two 
religions  to  live  side  by  side  in  France.  This  was 
followed  by  a  most  powerful  speech  from  Catherine 
herself  in  the  same  direction.  After  ca  debate  of 
twelve  days  a  compromise  was  at  length  agreed 

1  Frauds  1.  divided  France  into  provinces,  each  of  which  had  its 


XX.]  THE    "EDICT   OF  JANUARY^  103 

upon,  which,  though  not  all  that  Catherine  desired, 
nor  completely  satisfactory  to  either  party,  was 
more  agreeable  to  the  Protestants  than  it  was  to 
their  opponents. 

Having  thus  at  last  obtained  a  settlement 
which  an  influential  body  of  men  representative 
of  both  parties  could  accept,  Catherine  drew 
up  an  Edict,  following  their  recommendations, 
which  afterwards  became  very  celebrated  under 
the  name  of  the  "  Edict  of  January."  This, 
though  it  did  not  allow  the  Protestants  to 
build  churches,  authorised  their  assembling  for 
worship ;  still  more  important  than  this,  it  gave 
them  for  the  first  time  legal  recognition,  the 
State  thus  acknowledging  two  different  religious 
bodies.  But  when  this  Edict  (containing  such  an 
entirely  new  departure)  was  sent  by  the  Queen 
to  the  Parlement  to  be  registered  and  published, 
they  altogether  refused  to  publish  it,  and  took 
up  a  most  determined  attitude.  Catherine  was 
furious ;  she  at  once  mounted  her  horse  and  rode 
at  a  gallop  from  Saint-Germain  to  Paris, ^  "  and," 
says  the  account,  "  in  good  sooth  it  seemed  as 
though  she  would  gallop  straight  into  the  Council 
chamber  in  order  the  better  to  demonstrate  her 
absolute  will  and  have  the  Edict  registered."  She 
found  the  President  and  Councillors  obdurate ; 
they  declared  that  the  Edict  would  do  evil  to 
the  kingdom,  and  dishonour  to  God,  and  that 
nothing  should  induce  them  to  register  it ;  and 
at  length  the  President  rose  to  leave  the  hall, 
solemnly  saying  to  the  Queen,  "  Your  Majesty 
is  taking  the  road  that  will  lose   you  crown  and 

'  About  teu  miles. 


104  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [ohap. 

kingdom."  But  Catherine  was  as  firm  on  behalf 
of  her  measure  of  toleration  as  the  Deputies  were 
against  it.  And  as  we  watch  her  standing  alone 
before  the  Parlement,  determined  that  they  and 
not  she  should  give  way  in  a  matter  which  she 
felt  was  the  last  chance  of  saving  the  country 
from  civil  war,  suddenly  before  the  mind's  eye 
there  rises  that  scene  of  thirty-two  years  before, 
at  the  door  of  the  Murate  convent  in  Florence, 
when  she  was  a  girl  of  eleven,  and  the  whole 
drama  seems  to  have  been  acted  before  on  a 
smaller  stage,  and  we  know  which  side  will 
conquer.  And  so  it  turned  out ;  for,  notwith- 
standing all  the  determination  of  the  President 
and  Councillors,  Catherine  prevailed,  and  before 
she  left  the  council  chamber  she  had  obtained  a 
promise  that  the  Edict  should  be  published  on 
the  following  day ;  which  was  done.  Though  in 
publishing  it  the  Parlement  themselves  attested 
that  her  determination  had  been  greater  than 
theirs  by  adding  the  words : — 

"  Published,  read,  and  registered  in  our  Court  of 
Parlement  at  Paris,  by  reason  of  the  importunity 
of  those  who  profess  the  so-called  new  Reformed 
religion.  And  this  only  provisionally,  while  await- 
ing the  majority  of  the  King." 

This  episode  completed  Catherine's  first  year 
of  power.  And  that  year  certainly  showed  no 
insignificant  tale  of  work.  She  could  not  undo 
the  harm  which  had  been  done  during  the  years 
when  she  had  compulsorily  been  merely  an  onlooker 
while  incapacity  of  various  kinds  (first  during  her 
husband's  reign,  and  then  during  that  of  her  son) 


..._    / 


XX.]  FIRST   RELIGIOUS    WAR  105 

steadily  drove  Fiance  towards  civil  v^ar;  but  on 
getting  hold  of  the  helm  she  made  a  fine  efi'ort  to 
save  the  ship  from  the  rocks  even  at  the  eleventh 
hour.  And  her  Edict  of  toleration  immediately 
on  coming  to  power  in  January  1561,  her  pro- 
clamation of  July  assembling  a  National  Church 
Council,  her  broad-minded  reforms  in  the  matter 
of  giving  appointments  equally  to  those  of  both 
religious  parties,  her  second  conference  in  October 
w^hen  the  first  failed,  her  third  conference  pro- 
claimed in  December  when  the  second  failed,  and 
lastly,  in  January  1562,  her  celebrated  "  Edict  of 
January,"  which  so  often  formed  the  basis  of 
peace  in  the  years  which  followed,  collectively 
made  a  record  of  which  any  ruler  of  a  country 
drifting  towards  civil  war  might  well  be  proud. 

But  all  Catherine's  efforts  were  rendered  of 
no  avail.  The  Roman  Catholic  party,  headed  by 
the  Guises,  declared  her  "Edict  of  January"  to 
be  intolerable,  and  that  there  could  not  be  two 
religions  side  by  side  in  France ;  the  Protestant 
party  declared  that  her  Edict  did  not  go  far 
enough,  and  clamoured  for  further  concessions ; 
several  fights,  with  the  slaughter  of  opponents, 
took  place,  and  both  parties  now  prepared  openly 
for  civil  war.  An  intercepted  letter  from  a 
Protestant  minister  disclosed  to  the  Guises  the 
fact  that  the  Protestants  were  plotting  a  whole- 
sale massacre  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Paris ; 
the  writer  of  the  letter  quoted  the  examples  of 
Gideon  and  Judith,  and  said  that  he  "felt  in 
his  spirit  a  God -sent  vocation  to  do  this  deed." 
Ten  years  later  (on  St  Bartholomew's  Day,  1572) 


106  CATHERINE   DE'    MEDICI  [chap. 

the  Roman  Catholics  apparently  felt  the  same 
"vocation."  Catherine,  knowing  that  the  object 
of  both  sides  was  to  get  possession  of  the  King, 
withdrew  with  him  to  Fontainebleau,  first  order- 
ing the  Duke  of  Guise  not  to  bring  an  armed 
force  into  Paris,  an  order  which  he  promptly  pro- 
ceeded to  disobey;  whereupon  Catherine,  deter- 
mined to  keep  the  antagonists  apart  if  possible, 
begged  Cond^  to  quit  Paris,  which  he  did.  Guise, 
with  a  Roman  Catholic  force,  seized  Paris ;  the 
Protestants,  under  Conde  and  Coligny,  seized 
Orleans  and  other  towns  on  the  Loire  and  the 
Rhone ;  and  the  First  Religious  War  had  begun 
(May  1502).  The  Duke  of  Guise  proceeded  with 
a  force  to  Fontainebleau,  captured  the  Queen 
Regent  and  the  King,  and  escorted  them  under 
a  guard  first  to  Paris  and  thence  to  Melun,  where, 
though  treated  with  courtesy,  they  were  practically 
Guise's  prisoners,  and  were  not  allowed  to  com- 
municate by  letter  or  other  means  with  the  out- 
side world.  Elizabeth  of  England,  joining  in  the 
conflict,  sent  over  an  English  force  which  occupied 
Havre  and  Rouen ;  and  the  war  rapidly  spread  in 
both  northern  and  southern  France.  Meanwhile 
Catherine,  who  after  a  time  had  managed  to  get 
free  from  the  power  of  Guise,  was  struggling  in 
every  way  to  reconcile  the  combatants,  but  for 
some  time  without  any  success.  Various  battles 
ensued,  in  which  at  length  the  King  of  Navarre 
was  killed,  Conde  taken  prisoner  by  the  Roman 
Catholics,  and  Montmorency  by  the  Protestants. 
In  February  1563,  while  the  Duke  of  Guise 
was  besieging  Orleans,  occurred  an  event  which, 
while  it  assisted  the  cause  of  peace  at  the  time, 


xx.-j        MURDER   OF  THE   DUKE   OF   GUISE       107 

laid  the  seeds  of  still  more  bitter  strife  later  on. 
This  was  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who, 
as  he  was  riding  unarmed  back  to  his  house,  was 
shot  by  Poltrot  de  Mer^,  a  Protestant  who  had 
attached  himself  to  Guise's  army  in  order  to 
execute  this  crime,  and  who  at  his  trial  stated 
that  it  was  Admiral  CoMgny  who  had  employed 
him  to  commit  the  deed,  though  whether  this  was 
true  or  not  has  never  been  made  clear.  Francis, 
Duke  of  Guise,  was  a  noble  character,  and  the 
most  deservedly  beloved  and  honoured  figure  of 
that  time,  and  his  murder  by  the  Protestants  was 
the  chief  cause  of  the  bitter  hatred  against  Admiral 
Coligny  and  the  Protestant  party  on  the  part  of 
the  Roman  Catholics  which  eventually  culminated 
in  the  massacre  on  St  Bartholomew's  Day  ten 
years  later. 

This  death  of  the  commander  on  the  Roman 
Catholic  side,  combined  with  the  other  events 
which  had  for  the  moment  deprived  both  parties 
of  the  most  fiery  spirits  among  their  leaders,  gave 
Catherine  an  opportunity  which  she  at  once  seized. 
She  forthwith  arranged  a  meeting  between  herself 
and  the  two  chief  prisoners  on  either  side,  Mont- 
morency and  Conde,  at  Orleans,  and  in  a  few  days 
had  caused  them  to  agree  to  terms  of  peace  which 
were  almost  exactly  on  the  lines  of  her  "  Edict  of 
January."  And  on  her  return  to  Amboise,  where 
she  was  then  staying,  she  was  able,  on  the  19th 
March  1563,  to  proclaim,  in  an  edict  called  the 
"  Edict  of  Amboise,"  the  peace  which  she  had 
effected.  Thus  ended  the  First  Religious  War ; 
and  Catherine  was  so  delighted  at  her  success 
that  she  is  said  to  have   "  danced  for  joy."     She 


108  Catherine  de'  Medici  [chap. 

had  a  right  to  feel  satisfaction ;  and  her  joy 
was  not  dimmed  by  any  knowledge  that  seven 
other  wars  of  the  same  kind  were  to  follow, 
in  which  the  most  arduous  labours  in  the  same 
direction  were  often  to  fail.  She  promptly  carried 
off  her  children,  Charles  IX.,  Henry,  Duke  of 
Anjou,  Francis,  Duke  of  Alen^on,  and  Marguerite, 
together  with  the  Prince  of  Conde  and  his  wife, 
the  young  Henry,  now  Duke  of  Guise,  the  other 
young  Henry,  now  King  of  Navarre,  and  a  brilliant 
company  to  Chenonceaux  for  a  happy  week  of 
festivities  to  celebrate  the  cessation  of  the  war. 
These  were  varied  and  picturesque. 

"  Naval  battles  and  water  fetes  on  the  Cher 
were  followed  by  fireworks  and  torchlight  dances 
in  the  long  galleries,  while  spirited  encounters  took 
place  in  the  woods  and  gardens  between  troops  of 
gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  court  disguised  as 
satyrs  and  nymphs."  ^ 

Having  been  so  successful  in  causing  the  two 
parties  to  make  peace,  Catherine's  next  move  was 
to  bind  them  together  as  much  as  possible  by 
urging  that  it  was  the  duty  of  all  Frenchmen  to 
combine  to  drive  the  English  from  French  soil. 
And  entirely  owing  to  her  own  enthusiasm  on 
this  point,  she  was  able  three  months  later  to 
assemble  an  army  commanded  by  the  leaders  of 
both  parties,  which  advanced  to  attack  the  English 
in  Rouen,  and  which  she  herself  accompanied,  going 
into  the  battle  herself,  and  saying  that  she  "  would 
ne\'er  rest  until  she  had  driven  the  English  out  of 

^  The  Chdteaujc  o/Touraine,  by  M.  H.  Lausdale. 


XX.]  TOUR   THROUGH   FRANCE  109 

France."  Tlie  campaign  was  entirely  successful, 
and  in  July  the  English  force  surrendered,  and 
France  was  once  more  free  from  foreign  invasion. 
It  was  the  last  time  for  many  a  long  day  that  the 
two  parties  of  Frenchmen  were  to  be  found  fighting 
on  the  same  side. 

Peace  having  been  thus  brought  to  France  for  a 
time,  Catherine  caused  Charles  IX.,  now  fourteen, 
to  be  installed  at  Rouen,  and  then  took  him  on  a 
prolonged  tour  through  France,  both  to  make  him 
acquainted  with  his  kingdom  and  also  to  keep  the 
court  away  from  Paris,  where  religious  animosity 
was  always  ready  to  break  out.  This  tour  lasted 
nearly  two  years,  from  the  spring  of  1564  to  the 
end  of  1565,  in  the  course  of  which  the  court 
visited  nearly  all  the  principal  places  in  southern 
France.  The  court  numbered  over  eight  hundred 
persons,  accompanied  by  a  huge  retinue  of  servants, 
and  there  are  graphic  accounts  of  this  immense 
progress,  which  was  like  a  moving  pageant.  We 
hear  of  gaily  -  dressed  nymphs  who  issued  from 
glittering  rocks  by  the  wayside,  of  shepherds  who 
suddenly  appeared  and  recited  long  Latin  poems, 
and  of  various  other  diversions  to  beguile  the 
tedium  of  the  march.  At  Bar-le-Duc  there  took 
place  the  baptism  of  the  Queen's  grandchild, 
Christine  of  Lorraine,  the  child  of  Catherine's 
daughter  Claude.  And  at  Macon  Catherine  was 
called  upon  to  settle  a  fierce  sectarian  quarrel  over 
the  knotty  point  of  whether  in  processions  the 
children  of  Protestant  parents  could  be  permitted 
to  walk  side  by  side  with  these  of  Roman  Catholic 
parents.     Though  the  fires  of  civil  war  had  been 


no  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

quenched,  the  ashes  still  smouldered,  and  while 
at  Roussillon  Catherine  found  it  necessary  to  issue 
a  further  Edict  calling  upon  each  of  the  two 
parties  to  respect  the  religion  of  the  other. 

The  court  reached  Bayonne  in  June  1565, 
where  Catherine  had  arranged  that  her  daughter, 
Elizabeth  of  Spain,  was  to  meet  them.  There 
followed  three  weeks  of  balls,  tournaments,  and 
other  festivities  to  celebrate  this  happy  meeting. 
Elizabeth  was  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Alva 
(afterwards  of  such  evil  memory  in  the  Nether- 
lands), who  had  come  to  Bayonne  with  a  fixed 
programme,  carefully  settled  beforehand  with  his 
master,  Philip  II.,  in  accordance  with  which  he 
intended  to  extort  from  Catherine  agreement  to 
three  main  conditions,  the  exclusion  of  all  Protes- 
tants from  holding  any  public  office,  the  pro- 
hibition of  Protestant  services,  and  the  expulsion 
from  France  of  all  Protestant  ministers.  And  the 
Protestant  ^vriters  have  always  maintained  that  at 
this  meeting  Catherine,  with  the  utmost  duplicity, 
made  a  secret  compact  with  Alva  for  the  extermina- 
tion of  Protestantism  in  France ;  ^  and  that  the 
massacre  which  occurred  seven  years  later  in  Paris 
was  the  result  of  this  meeting  between  the  Queen 
Mother  and  Alva.  But  here  we  have  a  notable 
instance  of  how  modern  research  overthrows  long- 
estabUshed  errors  due  to  reliance  upon  the,  perfectly 
unscrupulous,  partisan  writers  of  that  epoch.  For 
the  above  theory  in  connection  with  this  meeting 
at  Bayonne,  a  theory  which  had  until  recently 
become  so  firmly  established  as  to  be  an  accepted 
fact  of  history,  has  now  been  completely  refuted 

^  See  Miss  Sichel's  Later  Years  of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  pp.  19-21. 


XX.]     THE  MEETING  AT  BAYONNE      HI 

by  the  publication  of  the  Spanish  State  Papers, 
including  Alva's  secret  despatches  to  his  master, 
Philip  II.  For  these  show  that  so  far  from  any- 
thing of  the  kind  having  taken  place,  Alva,  by  his 
own  admission,  entirely  failed  to  induce  Catherine 
to  agree  to  anything  that  he  urged  for  the 
repression  of  Protestantism.  He  tells  his  master 
that  he  was  unable  to  get  her  to  agree  to  prohibit 
the  Protestant  preachers  (authorised  by  her  Edict 
of  Amboise) ;  or  to  dismiss  her  Chancellor,  Michel 
de  I'Hopital ;  or  to  consent  to  any  of  the  other 
proposals  which  he  urged  upon  her ;  "  and  this 
notwithstanding  the  lofty  energy  and  consummate 
prudence  displayed  by  the  Queen  of  Spain"  to 
assist  his  efforts  ;  adding  that  he  found  the  Queen 
Mother  "more  than  cold  for  the  holy  religion."^ 
The  court  returned  to  Paris  at  the  end  of 
the  year;  and  during  the  following  year  (1566) 
Catherine,  besides  many  labours  to  maintain  the 
existing  tranquillity  on  the  religious  question,  was 
mainly  occupied  in  getting,  with  the  able  assist- 
ance of  her  Chancellor,  a  large  number  of  very 
important  enactments  passed  for  the  better 
administration  of  justice  throughout  France. 
These  swept  away  numerous  unjust  practices  of 
the  courts  of  justice,  and  many  abuses  in  the 
management  of  the  pohce  which  pressed  severely 
on  the  people,  and  with  which  her  recent  pro- 
longed progress  through  the  country  had  made 
her  acquainted.  Many  of  the  new  laws  thus 
enacted  obtained  a  permanent  place  in  the  French 
legal  code  and  were  of  lasting  benefit  to  France. 

'  Spanish  State  Papers.     Secret  Records.     Despatches  of  the  Duko 
of  Alva. 


112  CATHERINE    DE'    MEDICI  [chap. 

These  four  years  (15G3-1567)  were  also  a  time  of 
much  activity  on  Catherine's  part  in  other  direc- 
tions. Both  of  what  were,  until  1871,^  the  two 
principal  palaces  in  Paris  are  inseparably  connected 
with  her  name.  The  palace  of  the  Louvre,  begun 
a  few  years  before  his  death  by  Francis  I.  on  the 
designs  of  the  architect  Lescot,  was  completed  by 
the  end  of  Henry  II.'s  reign,  and  Catherine  was 
the  first  sovereign  of  France  to  occupy  it,  when 
she  came  to  power  after  her  son  Francis  II.'s  death. 
And  in  the  year  1564  she  began  building  her  own 
palace  of  the  Tuileries,^  connecting  it  with  the 
Louvre  by  a  long  gallery  passing  through  the 
crowded  quarter  of  the  city  which  then  occupied 
the  intervening  space.'  For  this  palace  she 
employed  the  celebrated  architect  Philibert  de 
rOrme,  who  had  been  ousted  from  royal  favour 
by  the  Guises  during  Francis  II.'s  reign,  but 
•whom  Catherine  on  coming  to  power  reinstated. 
Besides  this  work  she  was  also  busy  in  making 
extensive  improvements  at  Fontainebleau,  Chenon- 
ceaux,  and  others  of  the  royal  residences,  in 
collecting  objects  of  art  of  all  kinds,  and  in 
patronising  literature.  And  notwithstanding  all 
the  storms  of  war  through  which  France  passed 
during  the  years  of  Catherine's  rule,  they  form 
a  notable  epoch  in  French  literature,    the   poets 

1  The  palace  of  the  Tuileries,  after  being  greatly  enlarged  by- 
successive  sovereigns  of  France,  was  in  1871  entirely  destroyed  by  the 
Communists,  and  only  its  beautiful  gardens  now  remain. 

2  From  tuile,  a  tile.     For  the  reason  for  the  name  see  pp.  120-121. 

3  Itwas  just  at  this  time  (December  1564)  that  in  Florence  Cosimo  1. 
was  constructing  his  similar  but  much  longer  gallery,  the  "  Passaggio," 
through  a  portion  of  that  city  to  connect  the  Ducal  palace  with  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio,  in  the  same  manner  as  Catherine  connected  the 
Tuileries  with  the  Louvre. 


XX.]  SECOND  RELIGIOUS  WAR  113 

Ronsard,  Du  Bellay,  Belleau,  Binet,  and  other 
lesser  stars  having  made  this  period  famous  by 
their  collective  name  of  "  the  Pleiade.  " 

Catherine's  Edict  of  Amboise,  supplemented  by 
that  issued  at  Roussillon,  had  kept  France  free 
from  w^ar  for  four  years.  The  religious  animosities, 
however,  fomented  on  the  one  side  by  the  Calvinists 
in  Geneva,^  and  on  the  other  by  the  intolerant 
temper  of  the  Guise  faction,  at  length  again 
blazed  out,  and  in  September  1567  the  Second 
Religious  War  was  begun  by  an  attempt  made 
by  the  Protestants  to  seize  the  person  of  the 
young  King  while  the  court  was  at  Meaux. 
The  battle  of  St  Denis  followed,  in  which  the 
Constable  Montmorency  was  killed.  During  the 
next  six  months  severe  fighting  took  place  in 
various  parts  of  France,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  Protestants  took  Rochelle,  which  became 
their  permanent  headquarters.  Eventually,  in 
March  1568  this  second  war  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  the  so-called  Peace  of  Longjumeau. 

How  untiring  were  Catherine's  efforts  to  main- 
tain peace,  and  how  great  the  difhculties  of  the 
task,  is  shown  in  the  reports  of  the  various 
ambassadors.  Thus  the  Spanish  envoy  Alava,^  in 
one  of  his  secret  reports  to  Philip  II.,  informs 
him  that  as  the  Queen  was  coming  one  day 
from  the  council  chamber,  and  when  he,  being 
pressed  by  her  to  say  why  he  looked  at  her  as 
he  did,  remarked  in  reply  that  her  eyes  were 
swollen    with    weeping,    "  She    said :    'It    is    but 

^  Calvin  himself  had  died  iu  1564. 

^  Not  to  be  coufounded  with  the  Duke  of  Alva. 

VOL.    II.  H 


114  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

too  true,  but  I  have  every  reason,  for  alone  and 
sin<rle-handed  I  bear  the  burden  of  affairs.  You 
would  be  amazed  (so  she  spake)  if  you  understood 
what  has  just  happened.  I  no  longer  know  in 
whom  I  can  trust.' "  '  Again  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sador, Giovanni  Correr,^  reports  thus : — 

"  I  do  not  know  what  prince  would  not  have 
made  mistakes  in  such  a  great  confusion ;  how 
much  more  a  woman,  a  foreigner,  without  trusty 
friends,  frightened,  and  never  hearing  the  truth 
from  those  about  her.  For  my  part,  I  have  often 
been  surprised  that  she  did  not  become  thoroughly 
confused,  and  give  way  to  one  or  other  of  the  two 
parties ;  which  would  have  been  a  final  calamity 
to  the  kingdom.  It  is  she  alone  who  has  preserved 
the  remnant  of  royal  majesty  still  to  be  found 
there.  For  this  reason  I  have  always  pitied  rather 
than  blamed  her ;  and  she  has  often  reminded  me 
of  it  when  speaking  of  her  distresses  and  the  woes 
of  France. " 

Words  such  as  these  give  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  difficulties  which  Catherine's  policy  entailed 
on  her,  and  of  the  ability  with  which  she  adhered 
to  it.  Nevertheless,  difficult  though  it  might  be, 
the   correctness   of  that   policy   is   shown   by  the 

1  Spanish  State  Papers. 

2  Of  all  the  Venetian  ambassadors  during  these  thirty  years  M. 
Armand  Baschet  singles  out  as  by  far  the  most  distinguished  Giovanni 
Correr,  who  came  as  ambassador  to  France  during  the  Second  Religious 
War^  and  who,  he  says,  "  writes  with  a  talent  which  reveals  a  profound 
insight."  Giovanni  Correr  was  on  more  intimate  terms  with  Catherine 
than  any  of  his  successors,  and  so  largely  did  she  discuss  all  affairs 
with  him  that  M.  Baschet  considers  that  "to  obtain  a  just  idea  of 
Catherine  de'  Medici  during  this  period  it  is  entirely  necessary  to  study 
the  remarkable  pages  of  this  most  capable  ambassador."  (La  Diplomatie 
Venttieime,  by  M.  Armand  Baschet.) 


XX.]  THIRD  RELIGIOUS  WAR  115 

ambassador's  remark  that  her  abandonment  of 
it  would  have  been  a  final  calamity  to  the 
kingdom. 

The  peace  made  at  Longiumeau  proved  but  of 
short  duration.  The  two  parties  had  no  real  inten- 
tion of  becoming  reconciled,  and  in  August  1568 
the  Third  Religious  War  began,  and  was  fought 
with  great  ferocity  on  both  sides.  Two  months 
after  it  began  Catherine  heard  of  the  death  of 
her  favourite  daughter,  Elizabeth  of  Spain,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four.  Catherine's  grief  thereat  was 
very  great,  but  she  had  little  time  to  indulge 
it,  as  the  terrible  state  of  affairs  which  now 
supervened  in  France  claimed  her  whole  energies. 
In  March  1569  was  fought  the  battle  of  Jarnac, 
in  which  the  Prince  of  Cond^  was  killed.  That 
which  Catherine  had  long  laboured  to  prevent  now 
occurred, — the  participation  of  other  countries  in 
the  conflict.  A  German  army  entered  France  to 
assist  the  Protestants,  and  a  Spanish  one  to  assist 
the  Roman  Catholics ;  and  with  the  entrance  upon 
the  scene  of  these  foreigners  the  contest  took  a 
more  savage  character.  The  leaders  on  both  sides 
gave  orders  to  their  troops  to  give  no  quarter ; 
city  after  city  upon  being  taken  was  sacked ; 
"  whole  garrisons  had  their  throats  cut " ;  and 
the  war  assumed  the  appearance  rather  of  one 
between  fanatical  Hindus  and  Mahomedans  than 
between  people  of  a  civilised  race.  The  time 
was  a  terrible  one  —  for  both  Protestants  and 
Roman  Catholics.  The  various  woes  suffered  were 
enormous.     But   all  that   we  are  concerned   with 


116  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

in  this  history  is  Catherine's  conduct  in  connection 
with  them. 

The  Protestants  (who  could  not  be  retaliated 
upon  in  the  same  way)  deliglited  in  destroying  and 
defiling  everything  which  in  the  eyes  of  their 
opponents  was  sacred ;  they  demolished  churches 
and  mutilated  shrines,  they  dragged  crucifixes  and 
relics  in  the  mud,  they  gave  the  Holy  Sacrament 
to  dogs  and  cattle  and  greased  their  boots  with 
the  holy  oil,  they  profaned  the  sepulchres  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  reigning  family,  "they  burnt  at 
Cleri  the  bones  of  St  Louis,  King  of  France, 
and  at  St  Croix  the  heart  of  Francis  I.,"  they 
destroyed  the  beauty  of  every  building  on  which 
they  could  lay  hands,  and  in  short  poured  out 
their  fury  upon  everything  which  to  the  French 
people  represented  refinement,  care  for  religion, 
and  pride  in  the  past  history  of  their  race.  This 
conduct  roused  their  antagonists  to  frenzy ;  a  cry 
of  fiercest  wrath  and  a  vow  of  vengeance  went  up 
from  all  CathoUc  France ;  and  instead  of  one 
massacre  of  St  Bartliolomew's  Day,  it  was  more 
to  be  expected  that  there  should  have  been  a 
dozen  such  in  different  cities  of  France.  And, 
in  fact,  we  find  contemporary  writers  after  that 
massacre  speaking  in  this  very  strain,  and  saying 
that  it  was  no  more  than  a  due  retaliation  for 
all  that  the  Protestants  had  done  throughout 
France,  not  only  in  massacring  their  opponents, 
but  also  in  their  hateful  destruction  and  desecra- 
tion of  everything  revered  by  the  latter.  How 
deeply  Catherine  felt  all  this  misery  which  in  spite 
of  her  strong  efforts  to  avert  it  had  descended  upon 
France  can  be  seen  in  her  letters.     She  says : — 


XX.]  "JEZEBEL"  117 

"  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  one  in  the  world 
who  can  feel  more  pained  and  horrified  at  the 
atrocious  evils  wrought  by  the  foreign  troops  than 
I,  who  am  dying  of  it  on  my  feet."  ^ 

The  popular  feeling  of  maddened  indignation 
and  hatred  was  most  of  all  rampant  in  Paris  ; 
while  second  only  to  the  citizens'  rage  against  the 
Protestants  was  their  wrath  against  the  Queen 
Mother  for  her  tolerant  Edicts  allowing  to  Protes- 
tants liberty  of  worship  and  prohibiting  persecu- 
tion of  them.  The  Parisians  declared  lier  policy 
to  be  "  like  ordering  the  cats  and  the  rats  to  live 
at  peace  together "  ;  they  petitioned  for  leave  to 
abandon  France  and  go  to  live  in  some  country 
where  they  might  practise  in  freedom  the  Catholic 
religion  ;  and  when  she  ordered  her  Edict  of  tolera- 
tion to  be  read  to  the  people  from  the  pulpits, 
the  priests  not  only  refused  to  do  so,  but  again 
and  again  referred  to  her  in  their  sermons  as 
*'  Jezebel."  It  was  no  wonder  that  Catherine 
wrote  :  "  All  the  towns  in  the  kingdom  would  not 
cause  me  one  half  the  evils  I  endure  from  Paris 
alone."  Nor  is  it  any  wonder,  with  Protestants 
in  such  a  state  that  they  could  commit  the 
enormities  which  have  been  mentioned,  and  with 
Roman  Catholics  calling  the  Queen  JNIother 
"  Jezebel "  because  she  would  persist  in  allowing 
their  enemies  liberty  of  worship,  no  record  of 
Catherine's  actions  emanating  from  either  side  is 
to  be  relied  upon,  except  where  such  is  corrobor- 
ated from  more  trustworthy  sources,  or  by  facts 
admitted  by  these  writers  themselves  in  formu- 
lating their  indictments  against  her,  as  for  instance 

*  Lettren  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 


118  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

this  one  of  her  persistent  pursuit  of  a  poHcy  of 
toleration. 

Catherine  at  this  time,  feehng  Paris  an  unsafe 
abode,  and  knowing,  on  the  other  hand,  how  eager 
the  Protestants  were  to  capture  the  young  King, 
while  southern  France  was  in  too  great  a  state 
of  conflagration  to  afford  an  asylum,  carried  him 
off  to  Metz,  where  for  some  time  the  court  took 
refuge.  She  still  laboured  for  peace,  and  on  the 
same  lines  of  mutual  toleration,  and  writes  : — 

"  If  those  who  started  the  war  had  had  the 
patience  to  let  us  complete  what  we  had  begun  at 
Saint-Germain,^  we  should  not  be  in  the  difficulties 
we  now  are  in  regard  to  bringing  about  a  durable 
peace ;  which,  after  all,  even  when  it  is  obtained, 
cannot  be  more  satisfactory  to  both  parties  than 
the  old  Edict  of  January. "  ^ 

After  various  important  cities  had  been  taken 
and  retaken  the  battle  of  Moncontour  was  fought 
in  October  1569,  at  which  the  Protestants,  now 
commanded  by  Coligny,  sustained  a  severe  defeat. 
More  sieges  followed,  but  at  length,  in  August 
15T0,  Catherine  succeeded  in  bringing  the  war  to 
an  end  by  arranging  the  peace  of  Saint-Germain- 
en  -  Laye  in  which  the  terms  obtained  by  the 
Protestant  party  were  even  more  favourable  to 
them  than  those  contained  in  her  "  Edict  of 
January.  "  Nevertheless,  as  the  result  Catherine 
only  reaped  abuse  from  both  parties.  Phihp  II., 
urgently  demanding  that  the  war  should  be  con- 
tinued until  the  Protestants  were  completely 
crushed,  was  full  of  wrath  at  any  peace  having  been 

^  Her  Edict  of  January,  1562. 
■^  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 


XX.]  ANOTHER    EFFORT   FOR    PEACE  119 

made ;  the  Roman  Catholic  party  in  France 
declared  tliat  the  terms  of  the  peace  which  the 
Queen  Mother  had  arranged  were  far  too  favour- 
able to  their  foes,  and  that  "  the  vanquished  had 
been  treated  as  though  they  were  the  victors " ; 
while  the  Protestnnt  party  declared  that  the  terms 
were  not  favourable  enough,  and  also  that  they 
were  only  a  trap  laid  for  them  by  the  dupHcity 
of  the  Queen  Mother.  But  Catherine  had  to 
consider  France  as  a  whole ;  the  country  was 
utterly  exhausted  by  these  furious  wars,  its  con- 
dition altogether  deplorable,  and  a  cessation  of 
this  fratricidal  strife  absolutely  necessary.  Any 
peace  between  two  combatants  which  strikes  at 
all  an  even  balance  between  them  is  always  con- 
sidered unfair  by  both.  That  which  Catherine 
had  effected  at  Saint-Germain-en-Ijaye  was  of  this 
nature,  and  M.  T^avallee  speaks  no  more  than  the 
truth  when  he  says :  —  "It  was  another  effort  to 
make  the  two  religions  live  together,  and  to  give 
some  repose  to  exhausted  France."  As  to  the 
accusation  against  Catherine  of  duplicity  on  this 
and  other  similar  occasions,  while  they  are  only 
what  was  to  be  expected  from  the  state  in  which 
France  was,  they  probably  gained  their  chief 
material  from  the  necessity  perpetually  laid  upon 
Catherine,  if  France  was  not  to  be  in\aded  by 
the  Spaniards,  of  outwitting  Chantonnay,  between 
whom  and  herself  an  hourly  duel  (on  his  part  in 
order  to  discover  what  were  her  intentions,  and 
on  her  part  to  hide  them  from  him)  was  cease- 
lessly fought. 

Undoubtedly  this  peace  was  a  great  triumph 
for  Catherine,  the  second  of  this  kind  which  she 


120  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

had  gained.  For  the  results  proved  her  wisdom. 
Notwithstanding  the  wrathful  grumbling  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  that  the  terms  were  too  favour- 
able to  the  Protestants,  and  of  the  Protestants 
that  they  were  not  favourable  enough,  France 
quieted  down,  and  the  Protestants  went  to  their 
-preches  and  the  Roman  Catholics  to  Mass  without 
molesting  each  other.  Catherine  was  overjoyed 
at  her  success ;  and  though  she  saw  that  after  so 
fierce  a  storm  the  waves  could  only  be  expected 
to  calm  down  by  degrees,  she  had  good  hopes  of 
being  able  to  create  permanent  harmony,  "  and, " 
as  she  says  in  her  letters,  "  make  a  nation  of 
France. "  Speaking  of  those  who  declared  that 
the  miseries  of  France  had  all  been  caused  by  her 
refusal  to  suppress  the  heretics,  she  writes  : — 

"  If  things  were  even  worse  than  they  are  after 
all  this  war  they  might  have  laid  the  blame  upon 
the  rule  of  a  woman ;  but  if  such  persons  are 
honest  they  should  blame  only  the  rule  of  men 
who  desire  to  play  the  part  of  kings. ^  In  future, 
if  I  am  not  any  more  hampered,  I  hope  to  show 
that  women  have  a  more  sincere  determination  to 
preserve  the  country  than  those  who  have  plunged 
it  into  the  miserable  condition  to  which  it  has 
been  brought.  "  ^ 

Catherine  now  had  leisure  to  turn  her  attention 
to  other  affairs  than  the  miseries  of  war,  and  to 
think  of  matrimonial  projects  and  artistic  concerns. 
Her  palace  of  the  Tuileries  was  by  this  time  nearly 
finished,  and  she  delighted  in  laying  out  its  gardens 
and  in  arranging  to  adorn  them  with  all  sorts  of 
examples  of  the  new  art  in  earthenware  pottery 

^  The  Guises.  -  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 


XX.]  MARRIAGE  OF  CHARLES  IX.  121 

which  had  been  invented  by  the  celebrated  Palissy. 
She  had  a  year  or  two  before  rescued  him  from 
extreme  poverty,  as  well  as  from  persecution  as 
an  ardent  Protestant,  and  she  now  established  him 
as  superintendent  over  these  various  works  at  the 
Tuileries.  At  Chenonceaux  also  she  was  busy 
in  laying  out  new  gardens  on  an  elaborate  plan, 
and  here  too  she  employed  Palissy  to  assist  her; 
while  in  many  other  directions  she  indulged  those 
artistic  tastes  which  she  had  inherited. 

The  marriage  of  her  children  also  now  occupied 
her  attention.  The  peace  between  the  two  rival 
parties  in  France  enabled  her  to  set  on  foot  three 
matrimonial  projects,  all  intended  to  cement  the 
reconcihation  and  make  it  permanent.  These  were, 
the  marriage  of  her  son,  Charles  IX.,  now  twenty, 
to  Elizabeth  of  Austria,  the  daughter  of  the  toler- 
ant Emperor  Maximihan  II. ;  that  of  her  next  son, 
Henry,  Duke  of  Anjou,  to  Elizabeth,  Queen  of 
England ;  and  that  of  her  daughter  Marguerite 
to  Henry  of  Navarre,  the  son  of  the  redoubtable 
Protestant,  Jeanne  d'Albret.  The  first  of  these 
marriages,  that  of  Charles  IX.  to  Elizabeth  of 
Austria,  was  soon  carried  out,  and  they  were 
married  in  November  1570.  The  negotiations  for 
the  marriage  of  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  to 
Catherine's  son  Henry  (or  failing  him,  with  his 
younger  brother,  the  Duke  of  Alen(^on),  dragged 
on  for  years,  and  were  eventually  dropped,  liut 
the  third  marriage,  that  of  the  Princess  Marguerite 
to  Henry  of  Navarre,  was  also  carried  out,  and 
took  place  two  years  after  that  of  her  brother 
Charles.  Elizabeth  of  Austria,  Catherine's  new 
daughter-in-law,  was   virtuous,   wise,   and    had    in 


122  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

every  way  a  charming  disposition ;  having  no  taste 
for  politics,  she  occupied  her  time  almost  entirely 
in  numerous  charitable  works,  and  was  looked  upon 
by  the  people  as  a  saint.  She  was  very  sincere 
in  her  religion,  and  when  at  her  coronation,  at 
which  she  was  to  receive  the  Holy  Communion, 
various  unforeseen  delays  caused  the  ceremony, 
instead  of  taking  place  in  the  morning  as  intended, 
to  be  delayed  until  three  in  the  afternoon,  she 
remained  fasting  the  whole  day ;  and  although 
(it  being  feared  that  she  might  faint)  authority 
was  given  for  her  to  break  her  fast,  she  would  not 
do  so,  "  and,"  says  the  record,  "  received  the  Holy 
Communion  at  six  in  the  evening  as  upright  and 
gay  as  though  it  were  six  in  the  morning." 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Catherine's  project 
for  the  marriage  of  her  son,  Henry  of  Anjou,  with 
Elizabeth  of  England  were  mainly  created  by  the 
Pope,  who  foresaw  in  it  a  possibility  of  the  Church 
of  France  seceding  from  his  authority  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Church  of  England  had  done.  But, 
gi-eat  as  these  difficulties  were,  those  which  had 
to  be  overcome  in  connection  with  the  project 
for  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Marguerite  with 
Henry  of  Navarre  (which  marriage  was  Catherine's 
main  attempt  to  bind  the  two  hostile  forces  in 
France  together)  were  greater  still.  For  not  only 
was  the  Pope  equally  opposed  to  this  project 
for  similar  reasons,  but  also  Henry's  mother,  the 
strong-minded  and  stern  Calvinist  Jeanne  d'Albret,^ 

^  Jeanne  d'Albret  was  the  daughter  of  Francis  I.'s  sister  Marguerite, 
who  had  married  Henri  d'Albret.  Jeanne  herself  married  Antoine  de 
Bourbon,  Due  de  Vendome,  and  was  Queen  of  Navarre  in  her  own 
right,  her  son  Henry  only  becoming  King  of  Navarre  at  her  death. 


XX.]  DEATH   OF  .JEANNE   D'ALBltET  123 

had  great  doubts  as  to  whether  she  could  allow 
her  son  to  marry  a  Roman  Catholic,  much  as 
she  desired  the  match  from  every  other  point  of 
view.  However,  having  at  length  made  up  her 
mind  to  agree  to  it,  but  to  keep  her  son  as  much 
as  possible  away  from  Roman  Catholic  influences, 
she  came,  early  in  1572,  to  Paris  in  order  to 
conduct  the  negotiations  herself,  ordering  her  son 
to  remain  in  Navarre  until  she  had  completed 
them.  Jeanne  d'Albret  had  been  in  bad  health 
for  some  time,  and  the  feverish  energy  with  which 
she  threw  herself  into  the  preparations  for  her 
son's  marriage  exhausted  her  remaining  strength  ; 
finding  her  health  fLiiling,  she  summoned  her  son 
from  Navarre,  but  died  in  Paris  on  the  9th  June 
before  he  arrived.  Catherine  visited  her  on  her 
death -bed,  and  wrote  in  admiration  of  her  patient 
endurance  of  her  sufferings.  It  has  for  three 
centuries  been  a  favourite  story  that  Jeanne 
d'Albret  was  poisoned  by  the  Queen  Mother  by 
means  of  a  perfume  which  Jeanne  had  bought 
from  Catherine's  perfumer.  The  story,  which  had 
its  origin  in  libels  published  by  the  Calvinists  at 
Geneva,  has  been  repeatedly  disproved  by  the 
most  reliable  historians,  as  well  as  by  the  reports 
of  Jeanne  d'Albret's  two  physicians,  Caillard  and 
Dcsnoeuds,  both  of  them  Protestants  who  had 
written  many  things  against  the  Roman  Catholic 
party,  and  would  at  once  have  denounced  such  a 
crime  had  it  occurred.  But  nevertheless  the  story 
continues  to  hold  its  ground,  no  amount  of  dis- 
proof, nor  even  the  fact  that  Catherine  was  scarcely 
likely  to  endeavour  to  overthrow  a  plan  which  she 
had  so  long  laboured  to  achieve,  having  had  any 


124  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

weight  against  so  fascinating  a  piece  of  sensational 
fiction.  The  most  recent  authority  on  the  subject 
dismisses  the  story  in  the  following  words : — 

"A  legend  that  she  (Jeanne  d'  Albret)  had 
been  poisoned  long  formed  one  of  the  stock 
charges  against  the  Queen  Mother.  There  is  as 
little  evidence  for  it  as  for  most  of  the  similar 
accusations  brought  in  those  days. "  ^ 

Henry  of  Navarre,  accompanied  by  five  hundred 
Protestant  gentlemen,  arrived  in  Paris  a  few 
days  after  his  mother's  death,  where  Admiral 
Coligny,  the  young  Prince  of  Conde,  and  a  great 
concourse  of  the  Protestant  party,  were  already 
assembled  for  this  marriage  which  was  to  heal  all 
wounds  and  bind  the  two  parties  firmly  together. 
And  on  the  18th  August  1572  the  Princess 
Marguerite  and  Henry,  King  of  Navarre,  were 
married  in  the  midst  of  a  grand  assembly  of  all 
the  principal  men  of  both  parties,  and  with  much 
magnificence.  A  ball  at  the  Louvre  followed  in 
the  evening,  and  the  festivities  continued  through- 
out the  next  three  days. 

But  this  great  gathering  of  the  rival  parties  in  a 
city  at  all  times  so  inflammable  as  Paris  had  serious 
dangers  for  the  preservation  of  the  state  of  outward 
tranquillity  which  had  now  been  maintained  for 
two  years.  The  things  which  the  Protestants  had 
done  in  desecrating  and  destroying  all  that  their 
opponents  held  dear  were  not  forgotten ;  and  the 
citizens  of  Paris,  who  had  so  long  loathed  Catherine's 
policy  of  toleration  towards  their  opponents,  were 
roused  to  a  white  heat  of  animosity  at  seeing  the 

1  The  Cambridge  Modem  History,  vol.   iii.   chap.  L 


XX.]  MARRIAGE    OF   MARGUERITE  125 

marriage  of  their    King's   sister   to   the   leader  of 
the  rival  community ;   while  many  of  the  attend- 
ant circumstances   of  the    ceremony  were   higlily 
unpalatable   to   them.      On    the   other   hand,    the 
majority  of  the  Protestant  party  hked  the  marriage 
no  better,  thinking  they  saw  in  it  a  design  to  entrap 
their  leader,  Henry  of  Navarre,  into  becoming  a 
Roman   Catliolic.     Neither  party,   so  far  as  their 
subordinate   members   were   concerned,    took   any 
pains  to  hide  their  contempt   and  hatred  of  the 
other,  or  to  avoid  offending  their  religious  senti- 
ments.      Even   the   marriage    ceremony  itself,    at 
which  the  whole  body  of  the  Protestant  gentlemen 
had  ostentatiously  withdrawn  when  the  celebration 
of  the  Mass  began  and  gone  to  walk  up  and  down 
outside    in    the    gardens,    provided    fuel    to    the 
slumbering  fires.     Moreover,  there  were  still  deeper 
causes  of  enmity  at  work  ;  Henry,  Duke  of  Guise, 
the  leader  of  the   Roman    Catholic  party,  looked 
upon  Admiral  Cohgny  as  the  treacherous  murderer 
of  his  father,  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  a  crime  whicli 
Henry,  his  mother,  and  the  whole  family  of  Guise 
were  firmly  determined  to  avenge  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, Henry's  mother  being  specially  urgent  with 
him  to  take  this  vengeance.     So  that  this  marriage, 
intended  to  bind  the  opposing  forces  together,  had 
within  it  all  the  elements  for  a  fresh  outburst  of 
their  enmity;  hatred  and  suspicion  were  rampant 
on  both  sides,  and  it  needed   but  a  spark  to  set 
all  Paris  in  a  blaze. 

That  spark  was  soon  supplied.  On  the  22nd 
August,  four  days  after  the  marriage,  Admiral 
Coligny,  walking  from  the  Louvre  to  his  house, 
was  fired  at  from  the  window  of  a  house  inhabited 


126  CATHERINE   DE'    MEDICI  [ohap. 

by  one  of  the  retainers  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,^ 
and  wounded  in  the  hand  and  arm.  The  King 
and  Queen  Mother,  knowing  the  seetliing  state 
of  Paris,  and  being  in  the  greatest  anxiety  lest 
anything  should  be  done  by  either  party  which 
might  bring  on  a  conflict  and  civil  war  in  Paris 
itself,  immediately  on  hearing  of  this  outrage 
visited  Coligny,  expressed  the  greatest  concern 
at  what  had  happened,  and  sent  the  King's  own 
surgeon,  Ambrose  Pare,  a  Protestant,  to  attend 
Coligny,  and  a  guard  of  their  own  soldiers  to 
protect  his  house ;  they  offered  the  Protestant 
nobles  lodgings  round  their  leader ;  and  they 
promised  Coligny  that  there  should  be  a  strict 
search  for  the  criminal  and  his  prompt  punish- 
ment. The  house  was  at  once  searched,  but  the 
man,  whoever  he  was,  had  escaped.  These  actions 
were,  of  course,  put  down  by  the  Protestants  to 
"  dissimulation  "  on  the  part  of  the  Queen  Mother, 
but  there  is  not  a  particle  of  proof  to  support  the 
charge.  They  are  just  such  as  would  be  natural 
in  the  position  in  which  Catherine  found  herself, 
placed  between  two  bitterly  hostile  parties  who 
could  only  be  kept  at  peace  from  hour  to  hour 
with  difficulty,  while  a  conflict  within  Paris  itself 
threatened  to  engulf  the  throne,  and  would  in 
any  case  bring  to  ruin  all  that  Catherine  had 
striven  for  and  hoped  that  she  had  achieved  by 
the  marriage  just  concluded. 

This  outrage  upon  Coligny  brought  matters 
to  a  climax.  All  through  the  23rd  August  secret 
plots  were  going  on,  each  party  (frightened  and 

^  Salviati  asserts  that  Guise  had  wished  that  his  mother   should 
herself  fire  the  shot. 


xx-l  ST   BARTHOLOIVIEW'S   DAY  127 

suspicious)  plotting  to  massacre  the  other ;  and 
at  early  dawn  on  tlie  morning  of  the  24th  (St 
Bartholomew's  Day),  the  Roman  Catholic  party 
suddenly  rushed  upon  their  opponents.  Armed 
bands  headed  by  the  Guises,  the  Duke  of 
Angouleme,  and  other  Roman  Catliolic  nobles 
issued  into  the  streets  and  roused  the  only  too 
eager  Paris  mob  to  fall  upon  the  Protestants 
throughout  the  city.  The  Duke  of  Guise  at 
once  hurried  with  all  speed  to  Coligny's  house 
accompanied  by  a  band  of  his  own  soldiers,  who, 
overpowering  the  guard,  forced  their  way  into 
Coligny's  chamber  and  murdered  him.  His  party 
were  taken  by  surprise,  tlie  fanatical  hatred  of  the 
citizens  burst  forth  like  a  river  long  dammed 
up,  and  the  Protestants  (with  the  exception  of 
the  Prince  of  Cond^,  the  King  of  Navarre,  Michel 
de  I'Hopital,  and  others  whom  Catherine  protected, 
either  in  the  Louvre  or  by  sending  strong  guards 
to  defend  their  houses)  were  brutally  massacred 
throughout  Paris.  ^ 

The  historian  Sully,  speaking  of  this  massacre, 
says : — 

"  The  whole  house  of  Guise  had  been  person- 
ally animated  against  the  Admiral  ever  since  the 
assassination  of  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  by  Poltrot 
de  Mere,  whom  they  believed  to  have  been  in- 
stigated to  this  crime  by  Coligny ;  and  it  must 
be  admitted  tliat  the  Admiral  was  never  able  to 
clear  himself  of  the  cliarge.  If  this  cruel  slaughter 
was,  as  many  people  are  fully  persuaded,  only  the 
effect  of  the  revenge  of  the  house  of  Guise,  ...  it 
must  be  confessed   that  no  person  ever  executed 

^  Lord  Acton  after  careful  coinputilioii  considered  that  the  uuinber 
of  persons  slain  in  this  massacre  was  rather  over  2,000. 


128  CATHERINE  DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

so  severe  a  vengeance  for  an  offence  as  did  Henry, 
Duke  of  Guise,  for  his  noble  father's  murder." 

The  Protestant  writers  have  maintained  that 
this  massacre  was  a  long  -  premeditated  scheme, 
but  this  view  is  no  longer  held  by  historians, 
fuller  knowledge  having  shown  that  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  (^^uniga,  spoke  the  truth  when  he 
reported  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  murder 
of  Coligny,  the  rest  was  due  to  sudden  impulse. 
It  remains  to  consider  whether  Catherine  is  to 
be  held  responsible  for  this  massacre,  as,  on  the 
authority  of  the  infuriated  Protestants,  has  so 
long  been  declared,  or  whether  the  charge  of 
responsibility  on  her  part  was  only  another  result 
of  their  long-standing  prejudice  against  her,  one 
which  made  French  Protestants  prefer  to  lay  this 
crime  on  the  shoulders  of  "the  Italian  woman" 
rather  than  on  any  of  their  own  nation.  First, 
as  to  the  murder  of  Coligny,  one  of  the  two 
murders  which  have  always  been  charged  against 
Catherine,^  and  both  of  which  accusations  are  now 
considered  to  have  been  unjustly  made  against 
her.  The  circumstances  under  which  it  is  now 
known  that  Coligny 's  murder  took  place,  the  fact 
that  Catherine  is  acknowledged  to  have  had 
no  special  feeling  against  him,  and,  above  all, 
the  fact  that  this  murder  meant  the  ruin  of  a 
plan  to  achieve  which  she  had  laboured  hard  for 
two  years,  appear  sufficient  to  dispose  of  this 
charge.^ 

Catherine's  part  in  the  massacre  as  a  whole  is 
a  question   on   which   (like   that   of  the  guilt   or 

1  Vide  p.  G9. 

'  See  also  pp.  59,  125,  127,  and  ISG. 


XX.]  CHARLES   IX;S    WINDOW  129 

innocence    of   Mary,    Queen    of    Scots)    opposite 
opinions  will  probably  always  continue  to  be  held. 
And  this   is  inevitable,  because  the  only  records 
of  her  actions  on  these  three  days  (22nd  to  24th 
August)  are   all  furnished  by  persons  who   were 
violent  partisans  of  one  side  or  the  other,  and  at  a 
time  when  none  took  pen  in  hand  with  any  other 
idea  than  to  obscure  tlie  truth  as  much  as  possible 
for  the  advantage  of  his  party.     The  Protestants 
desired  to  show  the  Queen  Mother   and  her  son 
the  King  as  guilty  of  the  crime  perpetrated  against 
themselves ;    while   the  Roman  Catholics   desired 
to  show  that  in  what  they  did  the  Queen  Mother 
and  the  King  were  on  their  side.     The  following 
fact   is  eloquent   as   to   the  way  in  which,  under 
such  conditions,  the  history  of  this  affair  has  been 
written.     It  was  declared  by  the  Protestants  that 
Charles  IX.  had  himself  assisted  in  the  massacre 
by  firing  at  their  co-religionists  from  a  window  of 
the   Louvre ;    the  very  window  was  pointed   out, 
and  so  thoroughly  was  this  fact  supposed  to  be 
authenticated  that  a  tablet  to  that  effect  was  in 
after   years   affixed   to   the   window.     This  tablet 
was,  however,  removed  in  1802,  on  its  being  dis- 
covered that  that  iting  of  the  palace  was  not  even 
built  until  the  reigfi  of  Heuj^y  IF.^     It  is   from 
accounts  written  in  tliis  fashion  that  we  have  to 
gather  what  Catherine's  words  and  actions  within 
the  I^ouvre  were  at  this  time. 

None  know  really  what  went  on  in  the  Louvre 
during  the  22nd  and  23rd  August  preceding  the 

^  Notwithstanding  tliis,  the  custodians  who  show  the  huilding  to 
visitors  still  continue  to  repeat  this  story^  and  so  to  perpetuate  false 
"  history  "  {see  p.  G8,  footnote). 

VOL  II,  I 


130  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

commencement  of  the  massacre  on  the  morning 
of  the  24th  ;  and  it  is  upon  this  that  the  question 
of  Catherine's  part  in  the  matter  turns. ^  Two 
things  only  are  certain :  first,  that  of  those  around 
Catherine  during  these  three  days  there  is  not 
one,  either  Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic,  French, 
English,  or  Italian,  whose  word  on  the  subject  we 
can  trust  in  the  smallest  degree ;  and,  second,  that 
if  Catherine  were  responsible  for  this  massacre, 
then  it  was  the  only  occasion  in  her  life  that  she 
resorted  to  violent  measures.^ 

Even  the  Venetian  ambassadors  fail  us  at  this 
point  in  Catherine's  history,  and  throw  no  light 
as  regards  the  massacre  in  August  1572.  There 
is  a  long  gap  in  the  Venetian  State  Papers  at 
this  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  official 
despatches  of  this  period  having  been  lost.  The 
regular  ambassador  at  this  time  at  the  court 
of  France  was  Sigismondo  Cavalli.  In  addition 
to  him  an  ambassador  extraordinary,  Giovanni 
Michieli,  had  just  been  deputed  to  that  court  for 
a  special  purpose  connected  with  the  proceedings 
of  Spain  in  Flanders.  And  in  default  of  the 
official  despatches  all  that  we  have  is  a  semi-private 
account  by  this  Giovanni  Michieli,  which  is  by 
no  means  equally  trustworthy.^  This  purports 
to  give  a  circumstantial  report  of  the  proceedings 
in   the   Louvre,  charges   Catherine  with   the   sole 

^  As,  for  instance,  the  assertion  of  her  having  assembled  "  a  Council 
of  murder"  in  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries  on  the  23rd  August,  at 
which  the  massacre  is  said  to  have  been  decided  upon.  {See  Miss 
Sichel's  The  Later  Years  of  Catherine  de  Medici,  p.  167-) 

2  All  the  autliorities  who  hold  her  to  have  been  responsible  for 
the  massacre  admit  this. 

^  The  Venetian  ambassadors  were  under  compulsion  not  to  allow  any 
bias  to  enter  into  their  official  despatches  to  their  Government,  since 
this  might  mislead  the  latter. 


XX.]  CHARGE   OF  RESPONSIBILITY  131 

responsibility  both  for  Coligny's  murder  and  for 
the  general  massacre,  and  states  that  her  action 
was  the  result  of  a  long-premeditated  plan,  and 
that  the  whole  scheme  of  the  marriage  of  Henry 
of  Navarre  and  Marguerite  had  been  merely  a  trap 
to  inveigle  all  the  leading  Protestants  to  Paris. 
But  the  remarks  made  by  M.  Merim^e  show 
how  little  real  value  can  be  attached  to  this  state- 
ment of  Giovanni  Michieli.  M.  Merim^e  says : — 
"  I  cannot  admit  that  the  same  men  could  have 
been  able  to  conceive  a  crime  whose  results  must 
be  so  important,  and  to  execute  it  so  badly.  The 
measures,  in  fact,  were  so  ill  taken  that  soon  after 
the  Saint  Bartholomew-  the  war  began  afresh,  the 
reformers  certainly  winning  all  the  glory  of  it,  and 
retiring  from  it  with  new  advantages.  In  short,  is 
not  the  assault  on  Coligny,  which  took  place  two 
days  before  the  Saint  Bartholomew,  sufficient  to 
reftite  the  supposition  of  a  conspiracy  ?  Why  kill 
the  chief  before  the  general  massacre?  Was  not 
this  the  way  to  alarm  the  Huguenots  and  put 
them  on  their  guard  ? "  ^ 

Giovanni  Michieli,  in  fact,  was  not  in  a  position 
to  furnish  information  of  any  value.  He  had  only 
reached  Paris  a  week  or  two  before  ;  he  was  unable 
to  base  his  opinion  on  any  observations  of  his  own, 
as  he  appears  to  have  had  as  yet  no  communication 
with  the  Queen  Mother  (who  had  only  arrived 
from  Lorraine  just  before  the  marriage) ;  and  he 
is  only  able  to  relate  what  he  had  "  heard  on  this 
subject  from  persons  highly  situated  who  have 
access  to  the  secrets  of  the  court "  ;  in  other  words, 
from  just  those  persons  whose  evidence,  as  already 
noted,  is  in  this  case  absolutely  worthless. 

*  Ghroniqiie  du  temps  de  Charles  IX.,  by  M.  Merimee. 


132  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

We  are  therefore  left  to  form  such  inferences 
as  we  may  from  the  surer  ground  of  collateral 
evidence,  and  from  the  following  considerations  : — 

(i)  If  Catherine  was  responsible  for  instigating 
this  massacre,  then  she  committed  an  act 
which  is  at  variance  with  the  whole  of  the 
rest  of  a  policy  steadily  pursued  by  her  for 
a  long  number  of  years,  in  spite  of  the 
greatest  difficulties,  and  to  carry  out  which 
she  had  made  formidable  enemies ;  and  an 
act  which  entirely  stultified  that  policy. 

(ii)  Again,  if  she  was  responsible  for  this 
massacre,  then  one  possessing  one  of  the 
most  acute  intellects  ever  seen  upon  a 
throne  took  action  which  caused  all  her 
special  efforts  of  the  preceding  two  years  to 
be  absolutely  thrown  away,  and  destroyed 
the  effect  of  a  marriage  to  achieve  which 
she  had  undergone  severe  labours,  and  had 
incurred  much  odium  from  a  large  part  of 
the  French  people.  Also  it  is.  impossible 
that  she  should  not  have  foreseen  that  it 
would  be  at  once  declared  that  the  marriage 
was  a  long-premeditated  scheme  to  entrap 
the  Protestants  to  their  destruction. 

(iii)  As  this  massacre  began  the  Fourth 
Religious  War,  Catherine,  who  had  every- 
thing to  gain  by  peace  and  to  lose  by 
war,  yet  becomes,  by  the  hypothesis,  the 
deliberate  originator  of  that  war. 

How  far  the  theory  that  Catherine  de'  Medici 
was  responsible  for  the  massacre  on  St  Bartholo- 
mew's Day  will  square  with  these  facts  is  a  point 


XX.]  THE  TRUE  VIEW  183 

which  each  must  decide  for  himself.^  They  can- 
not be  slurred  over  or  explained  away,  but  must 
be  faced. 

What,  however,  is  probably  the  truest  view 
of  this  question  was  long  ago  pointed  out  by  a 
Protestant  historian,  "  the  fair-minded  Ranke," 
who  stated  that  the  responsibility  for  this  massacre 
had  been  unfairly  placed  by  the  French  people 
on  the  shoulders  of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  whereas 
it  was  they  themselves  who  must  bear  it ;  for  that 
this  massacre  was  caused  entirely  by  their  own 
state  of  wild  fanaticism  and  the  frenzied  hatred 
by  which  at  the  moment  both  of  the  religious 
factions  who  faced  each  other  in  Paris  were 
possessed.^ 

The  two   parties  into  which   Frenchmen  were 

^  We  have  also  to  remember  that  even  Michelet,  with  all  his 
hatred  of  her,  considered  that  she  was  not  guilty^  either  of  insti- 
{i^ating  Coligny's  death,  or  of  responsibility  for  the  massacre  on  St 
Bartholomew's  Day. 

2  Tint  while  the  responsibility  for  the  massacre  on  St  Bartholomew's 
Day,  1672,  must  be  borne  by  the  French  people  themselves,  it  would 
be  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  English  can  cast  any  stones 
at  them  in  this  respect.  Seven  years  later  there  occurred  in  Ireland 
a  massacre  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  of  the  province  of 
Munster,  carried  out  by  English  Protestant  troops  under  the  special 
orders  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  which  was  greater  in  degree  and  not 
in  any  way  less  revolting  in  character  than  the  massacre  in  Paris  ; 
while  it  had  far  less  excuse.  We  liave  the  crime  of  these  Roman 
Catholics  stated  by  a  certain  Sir  William  Drury  to  be  that  they  had 
"  infinite  Masses  in  their  churches  every  morning  without  any  fear. 
I  spied  them,  for  I  chanced  to  arrive  last  Sunday  at  five  in  the  morning 
and  saw  them  resort  out  of  the  churches  by  heaps.  Tliis  is  shameful 
in  a  reformed  city."  It  is  strange  that  ^\hile  the  F'reuch  massacre  is 
copiously  commented  on,  this  English  one  is  seldom,  if  ever,  mentioned. 
But  the  fair-minded  Ranke  sees  no  reason  for  any  such  distinction, 
and  relates  wliat  took  place  as  follows: — '^'llie  English  Protestants 
.  .  .  punislied  their  opponents  with  fearful  cruelty.  Men  and  women 
were  driven  into  barns  and  there  burnt  to  death  ;  children  were 
strangled  ;  all  Munster  was  laid  waste  ;  and  English  (Protestant) 
colonists  took  possession  of  the  depopulated  province."  Well,  tliere- 
fore,  may  we  bear  in  mind  with  reference  to  the  Paris  massjicre,  that  it 
was  not  only  in  France,  or  by  one  religious  party,  that  at  this  period 
such  tragedies  were  enacted. 


134  CATHERINE    DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

divided,  furiously  embittered  against  each  other 
by  many  cruel  deeds  during  ten  years  of  conflict, 
and  brought  into  close  juxtaposition  in  a  single 
city,  were  seething  with  animosity,  and  from  the 
moment  that  Guise's  retainer  fired  upon  Coligny 
were  bent  upon  massacring  each  other ;  it  was  only 
a  question  of  hours  which  should  be  the  assailant, 
while  the  knowledge  of  what  their  opponents  were 
planning  drove  each  forward.  The  Protestant  party 
who  had  marched  into  Paris  in  confident  strength, 
had  already  once  before  planned  to  massacre  the 
Roman  Catholics  in  Paris,^  and  it  was  to  a  large 
extent  fear  of  what  their  opponents  might  do 
which  caused  the  rapid  resolve  of  the  Roman 
CathoUcs  to  be  the  first  in  the  field.  "  The 
night,  the  unexpected  situation,  the  thought 
of  having  in  the  Louvre  itself  thirty  or  forty  of 
the  most  redoubtable  Protestants,  a  Pardaillon, 
a  De  Piles,  the  first  swordsmen  of  France,"  ^ 
all  combined  to  make  Guise  and  his  party  rush 
to  massacre  their  opponents  before  the  latter 
should  do  the  same  to  them,  and  to  force  the 
Queen  Mother  and  the  King  to  stand  aside  while 
they  worked  their  will  upon  their  foes.  Catherine 
between  the  two  antagonists  had  only  one  object, 
that  which  she  had  always  had,  to  preserve  the 
throne  from  being  overwhelmed  in  the  storm. 
But  she  was  placed  in  a  more  difficult  position 
than  hitherto,  owing  to  the  close  proximity  of 
the  two  foes.  Walsingham,  the  English  Minister, 
afterwards  told  her  that  it  would  have  been  easy 
to   seize   the   persons  who  were   plotting   on   the 

'  See  p.  105. 

^  Cfuerres  de  religion,  by  Michelet. 


XX.]  MADDENED   FRANCE  135 

Protestant  side,  and  so  have  avoided  the  explosion ; 
but  his  argument  took  no  account  of  the  fact  that 
any  force  with  which  she  could  have  done  so  must 
have  been  a  Roman  Catholic  one,  and  that  would 
at  once  have  brought  about  the  same  catastrophe. 
As  far  as  can  be  judged  in  the  absence  of  any 
record  that  can  be  trusted,  Catherine,  for  once  in 
her  life,  was  thoroughly  frightened  (as  well  she 
might  be),  and  seeing  that  a  conflict  was  going 
to  take  place  which  she  had  no  longer  any  power 
to  prevent,  sought  only  to  keep  herself  and  her 
children  and  her  daughter's  husband  from  being 
destroyed  in  it.  While  the  massacre  was  spread- 
ing through  the  city,  she  sent  her  commands  to 
the  Roman  Catholics  to  desist,  but  no  one  paid 
any  attention  to  her,  and  for  the  time  being  Paris 
was  as  much  beyond  any  control  as  a  city  in  which 
a  sack  was  taking  place. 

The  truth  is  that  France  had  become  by  this 
time  so  maddened  by  these  furious  religious  wars 
that  such  a  massacre  was  likely  at  any  time  in  any 
city  ;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  as  soon  as  the  news  of 
what  had  occurred  in  Paris  spread,  similar  massacres 
did  take  place  in  one  or  two  other  towns.  It  is 
also  evident  that  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  did 
not  attach  much  credit  to  the  reports  of  Catherine's 
responsibility  in  the  matter,  for  though  she  thought 
it  politic  to  express  her  reprobation  of  the  massacre, 
she  did  not  break  off  the  negotiations  for  her  own 
marriage  with  Catherine's  son. 

The  above  massacre  ruined  all  Catherine's  plans. 
During  the  visit  which  she  and  her  son  had  paid  to 
Cohgny  when  he  was  wounded,  Charles  JX.  had 


136  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

said,  looking  angrily  at  the  Duke  of  Guise :  "  It  is 
I  who  am  attacked " ;  whereupon  Catherine  had 
added  :  "  It  is  all  France."  And  she  was  right ;  the 
flames  of  war  were  relighted,  destined  to  cause  still 
greater  desolation  and  misery  to  France  than  even 
that  which  the  country  had  already  experienced. 
The  Fourth  Religious  War  began  at  once,  and 
raged  with  great  fury  for  the  whole  of  the  next 
twelve  months,  until  in  July  1573  a  temporary 
truce  was  effected,  called  the  Peace  of  Rochelle, 
as  before  on  the  lines  of  Catherine's  now  celebrated 
"  Edict  of  January." 

(1574-1589) 

The  Peace  of  Rochelle  proved  nothing  more 
than  a  six  months'  truce,  and  in  February  1574 
the  Fifth  Religious  War  broke  out.  Three 
months  later,  in  May  1574,  Charles  IX.  died;^ 
and  as  he  left  only  a  daughter,^  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother,  Henry  III.,  then  twenty  -  three. 
When  Charles  IX. 's  Queen,  the  good  Elizabeth 
of  Austria,  was  condoled  with  because  her  child 
was  not  a  boy,  she  replied  that  she  was  glad  of 
it,  since  that  would  only  have  added  yet  further 
divisions  to  cause  affliction  to  distracted  France. 

Henry  III.,  Catherine's  favourite  son,  who  now 
ascended  the  throne,  was  a  strange  character,  in- 
heriting more  of  his  father's  peculiar  disposition 
than  either  of  his  brothers,  but  with  all  his  father's 

^  Tlie  story  that  Charles  IX.  died  through  remorse  for  the  massacre 
of  St  Bartholomew's  Day,  a  story  sedulously  propagated  by  the 
Protestants,  is  not  corroborated  by  any  evideucCj  and  does  not  now 
obtain  any  credit  among  historians. 

2  This  daughter  died  at  the  age  of  five. 


XX.]  ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   III.  137 

weak  points  greatly  intensified.  He  had  plenty  of 
intelligence,  had  been  made  Lieutenant-General  of 
the  realm,  and  taken  part  with  distinction  in  the 
various  campaigns  during  the  previous  five  years 
(including  the  battles  of  Jarnac  and  JNIoncontour), 
and  had  eight  months  before  been  elected  as  King 
of  Poland,  where  he  governed  with  much  success, 
and  won  the  greatest  admiration  from  the  Poles, 
notwithstanding  that  they  were  mostly  Protestants. 
But  his  abilities  were  combined  with  an  indolence 
which  caused  him,  on  becoming  King  of  France, 
to  make  his  mother  undertake  all  affairs  that  were 
troublesome,  and  also  with  a  taste  for  the  most 
extravagant  follies,  a  taste  which  became  more 
pronounced  as  he  grew  older.  On  hearing  in 
Poland  that  he  had  become  King  of  France  he 
arranged  a  midnight  escape  from  his  faithful  Polish 
subjects  in  the  manner  of  a  conspirator  fleeing  for 
his  life.  Entertaining  at  this  time  a  violent  passion 
for  the  Princess  of  Cond^,  he  poured  forth  the 
most  extravagant  sentiments  to  her  in  letters 
written  in  his  blood  ;  ^  but  on  hearing  of  her  sudden 
death,  he  showed  his  grief  by  wearing  little  silver 
death's  heads  all  over  his  dress,  even  on  his  shoe 
ribbons,  and  after  a  week  appeared  completely  to 
forget  her,  and  became  entirely  occupied  in  making 
proposals  of  marriage  to  a  young  lady,  Louise  de 
Vaudemont,  whom  he  had  chanced  to  see  a  month 
or  two  before  at  Nancy.  Meanwhile,  he  went 
off  to  Avignon,  and  while  there  joined  "the 
flagellants " ;  ^   and   insisted   on   the   ladies   of  the 

'  "  His  secretary  opened  and  closed  the  puncture  ulienever  it  was 
necessary  to  fill  the  pen." 

^  So  called  because  tliey  struck  their  backs  and  shoulders  with  whips 
iu  penance  for  their  sins. 


138  CATHERINE   DE'    MEDICI  [chap. 

court,  and  even  his  mother,  doing  so  also.  His 
follies  and  extravagant  vagaries  were  innunrierable, 
each  more  fantastic  than  the  last.  His  mother 
idolised  him ;  she  could  refuse  him  nothing ;  and 
those  who  have  held  that  Catherine  de'  Medici  was 
without  the  softer  feelings  natural  to  a  woman 
have  only  to  study  the  expressions  in  her  letters 
wherever  the  name  of  her  son  Henry  occurs  to 
discover  that  this  view  is  far  from  the  truth. 

We  have  a  somewhat  touching  ghmpse  of 
Catherine  at  this  period  in  connection  with  a  visit 
which,  while  staying  at  Lyons,  she  paid  to  the 
studio  of  the  painter  Corneille  de  Lyon.  There, 
looking  round  the  pictures  on  the  walls,  she  saw 
one  of  herself  as  she  had  been  about  five-and- 
twenty  years  before,  "attired  in  the  French  mode^ 
with  a  little  cap  edged  with  pearls,  and  a  dress 
having  large  sleeves  of  silver  tissue,  lined  with 
lynx."  After  gazing  at  it  sadly  for  a  few  moments, 
recalling  as  it  did  the  memories  of  the  years  of  her 
long  trial,  in  the  days  of  Diane  de  Poictiers,  she 
turned  to  the  Due  de  Nemours  and  said  :  "  Cousin, 
you  remember  well  the  time  and  fashion  of  this 
picture  ;  and  you  can  say,  better  than  any  of  those 
around  us,  if  I  was  once  as  I  am  painted  here." 

Henry  III.  was  crowned  at  Rheims  on  the 
13th  February  1575,  and  two  days  afterwards 
married  Louise  de  Vaudemont.  Her  father  was 
the  Count  de  Vaudemont,  and  it  speaks  well  for 
Henry,  as  a  counterpoise  to  his  many  follies,  that 
he  thus  chose  for  himself  the  daughter  of  a 
simple  gentleman  of  France  (whose  family  were 
not  even  wealthy),  rather  than  any  of  the  royal 


XX.]  LA   REINE   BLANCHE  139 

princesses  who  had  been  spoken  of  as  a  desirable 
match  for  the  new  King  of  France.  His  choice 
proved  an  excellent  one ;  Louise  had  a  charm- 
ing character,  her  beautiful  disposition,  modesty- 
wisdom,  and  innate  goodness  being  praised  by  all 
writers ;  she  shone  like  a  star  amidst  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  court,  yet  gave  offence  to  none,  and 
was  respected  by  all  around  her,  while  her  husband 
invariably  treated  her  with  deference  and  affection. 
Both  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  had  at  last 
found  one  point  at  all  events  on  which  they  could 
agree,  for  both  of  them  loved  and  reverenced  "  La 
Reine  Blanche,"  as  Louise  came  to  be  called. 
And  it  is  one  of  the  brightest  spots  in  the 
character  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  that  she  was 
intensely  fond  of  Louise  de  Vaudemont,  and 
showed  it  to  the  last  hour  of  her  life. 

Meanwhile,  the  Fifth  Religious  War  continued 
to  rage  over  France,  and  an  end  to  the  conflict 
seemed  as  far  off  as  ever,  "  though,"  we  are  told, 
"  the  Queen  Mother  did  not  cease  to  labour  for 
peace  tooth  and  nail."  At  last,  however,  in  April 
1576,  a  peace  was  concluded  at  Beaulieu,  again  on 
the  basis  of  Catherine's  "  Edict  of  January."  And 
this  time  France  obtained  rest  for  nearly  a  year. 

Nothing  could  better  show  how  thoroughly  the 
Edict  for  which  Catherine  had  fought  and  won 
her  struggle  with  the  Paiiement  in  January  1562 
provided  just  that  balance  between  the  two  parties 
which  the  needs  of  France  required  than  the  fact 
that  again  and  again  after  war  had  raged  we  find 
the  Protestants,  in  negotiating  for  peace,  stipulating 
for  the  terms  of  this  Edict,  and  again  and  again 


140  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

find  peace  between  the  combatants  made  on  its 
basis.  If  only  the  two  parties  had  been  sufficiently 
ready  "  to  live  and  let  live "  to  have  adhered  to 
it,  France  would,  through  Catherine's  celebrated 
measure  of  toleration,  have  saved  itself  many  years 
of  misery.  Some  have  held  that  there  was  in 
Catherine's  career,  as  the  ruling  spirit  of  France  a 
Protestant  period  and  a  Roman  Catholic  period, 
and  a  complete  change  from  the  former  to  the 
latter  after  the  year  1562;^  but  this  constant 
attainment  of  peace  on  the  basis  of  her  "  Edict 
of  January"  time  after  time  for  so  many  years 
afterwards  entirely  contradicts  this,  and  refutes 
the  idea  that  there  was  ever  this  change  in 
her  attitude.  It  was  just  because  her  attitude 
remained  always  unchanged  that  the  same  Edict, 
published  so  many  years  before,  was  able  to  form 
the  basis  of  each  peace  that  she  brought  about. 

This  spirit  of  tolerance  and  natural  attraction 
for  freedom  is  a  remarkable  feature  in  Catherine's 
character  in  view  of  the  opinion  on  that  point 
which  was  universal  in  her  day.  Nothing  roused 
greater  wrath  and  contempt  in  the  men  of  that 
age  than  to  note  a  spirit  of  tolerance  in  a  ruler ; 
they  invariably  attributed  it  to  either  weakness, 
lukewarmness,  or  duplicity.  And  seeing  that,  after 
all,  Catherine  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  as  such 
necessarily  had  more  sympathy  with  that  side  in 
the  contest,  that  she  should  so  steadfastly  have 
adopted  a  policy  of  toleration  shows  a  degree  of 
broad-minded  statesmanship  of  which  she  had  con- 
siderable reason  to  be  proud.  It  was  undoubtedly 
due  to   Florentine   ideas,  and   to  that   republican 

^  See   Miss   Sichel's  Catherine  de   Medici,  p.  23. 


K.]  THE   INQUISITION   PROHIBITED  141 

atmosphere  in  which  she  had  been  born  and  brought 
up,  and  which  had  been  traditional  in  her  family.^ 
Ideas  of  freedom  in  poHtical  hfe  lead  naturally  to 
ideas  of  freedom  in  religion.  One  outcome  of  this 
spirit  on  Catherine's  part  was  a  notable  one.  P'or 
when  we  remember  how  terrible  were  the  horrors 
of  the  Inquisition,  nothing  tends  more  strongly  to 
make  us  regard  Catherine  de'  Medici  with  favour 
than  the  fact  that  at  a  time  when  the  Inquisition 
was  perpetrating  its  detestable  enormities  in  every 
other  country  round — in  Spain,  in  Italy,  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  every  other  Roman  Catholic 
country — Catherine  boldly  refused  during  all  the 
years  of  her  life  to  allow  it  to  be  established  in 
France.  This  brought  upon  her  the  enmity  of 
both  the  Pope  and  the  fanatical  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  whose  vengeance  in  the  defenceless  state 
of  France  could  only  be  warded  off  by  much 
diplomacy  on  Catherine's  part,  with,  as  a  result, 
many  accusations  against  her  of  "  duplicity." 
Nevertheless  Catherine  was  as  iron  on  this  point, 
and  the  anchor  which  was  the  sole  protection  of 
many  lives  from  horrible  tortures  and  death  was 
not  to  be  torn  from  its  hold.  Repeatedly  we  find 
men  whose  lives  were  in  danger  from  this  cause 
in  the  adjacent  countries  flying  to  Catherine  for 
protection,  and  obtaining  it.  One  of  the  most 
notable  of  these  was  Carnesecchi,  a  Florentine 
who,  becoming  one  of  the  chief  of  the  Protestant 
reformers  in  Italy,  was  pronounced  by  the  Pope 
a  "refractory  heretic."  Forced  to  fly  for  his  life 
from  Italy,  he  was  protected  by  Catherine  from  the 

^  Clement  VII.  had  largely  altered  this  tradition  ;  but  Catherine  had 
no  respect  for  Clement  VII.,  aud  did  not  agree  with  any  of  his  ideas, 
though  as  a  girl  she  had  been  forced  to  obey  him. 


142  CATHERINE  DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

wrath  of  the  Pope;  and  when  after  a  long  resi- 
dence in  France  he  ventured  to  return  to  Florence, 
Catherine  wrote  to  her  kinsman,  Cosimo  I.,  urging 
him  to  protect  Carnesecchi  as  she  had  done ; 
the  disregard  of  which  recommendation  resulted 
in  Carnesecchi's  being  burnt  in  Rome  by  the 
Inquisition.^ 

The  Peace  of  Beaulieu  having  once  more 
brought  a  tranquil  state  of  affairs,  Catherine,  who 
had  inaugurated  the  reign  of  each  of  her  other 
two  sons  by  a  fete  at  Chenonceaux,  did  the  same 
in  Henry  III.'s  case.  That  which  she  now  held 
for  him  was  on  a  more  splendid  scale  than  any 
which  had  taken  place  before,  every  effort  being 
employed  to  make  the  occasion  as  joyous  as 
possible,  and  with  the  hope  that  at  last  the 
miseries  of  war  were  at  an  end.  But  what  we 
chiefly  hear  of  in  connection  with  the  festivities 
are  the  extravagant  follies  of  Henry.  He  received 
the  guests  dressed  as  a  woman,  with  jewels  in  his 
hair,  earrings  in  his  ears,  strings  of  pearls  round 
his  bared  neck,  an  embroidered  collar  and  high 
ruff;  his  youthful  courtiers  were  arrayed  in  a 
similar  manner,  while  by  his  desire  the  ladies  of 
the  court  were  attired  as  men,  but  with  bare 
shoulders  and  flowing  hair. 

But  the  sunshine  was  only  temporary,  and  the 
storm-clouds  were  soon  again  gathered  over  France. 
From  the  first  the  Guises  had  refused  to  be  bound 
by  the  peace  made  at  Beaulieu,  as  they  declared 
it  to  be  too  favourable  to  the  Protestants.  They 
therefore   now  formed   the   celebrated   "  League " 

*  Chap.  xxiv. 


XX.]  SIXTH   RELIGIOUS   WAR  148 

(with  Henry,  Duke  of  Guise,  at  its  head )  for  the 
defence  of  the  interests  of  the  Roman  CathoHc 
party.  This  League  had  for  its  poHcy  one  the 
exact  opposite  of  Catherine's,  being  formed  to 
overturn  her  principle  of  a  recognition  by  the 
State  of  two  rehgions  side  by  side  in  France ; 
and  while  she  laboured  steadily  to  attain  peace 
by  means  of  this  principle,  the  League  strove  to 
keep  up  a  state  of  war  until  Protestantism  should 
have  been  crushed,  and  was  the  cause  of  innumer- 
able troubles  to  France  during  the  next  twenty 
years.  The  first  result  of  the  formation  of  the 
League  was  that  the  Guises  were  enabled  so  to 
manipulate  the  elections  that  the  States-General 
when  assembled  consisted  almost  entirely  of 
deputies  opposed  to  the  principle  of  the  toleration 
of  two  religions;  and  on  the  1st  January  1577 
this  assembly  declared  themselves  in  favour  of  one 
religion  only,  and  forced  the  King  to  abolish  the 
"  Edict  of  January."  The  Protestants  at  once 
took  up  arms,  were  assisted  with  money  by 
Elizabeth  of  England,  and  the  Sixth  Religious 
War  began.  It  lasted  for  nine  months,  but  in 
September  the  principle  of  tolerating  both  religions 
was  again  agreed  to,  and  a  peace  was  made  at 
Bergerac  in  September  1577. 

Catherine  was  now  approaching  sixty  years  of 
age,  and  her  appearance  was  very  different  from 
that  which  she  had  borne  in  the  days  of  Henry  II. 
Instead  of  the  beautiful  figure  for  which  she  had 
been  so  admired  during  all  the  earlier  portion  of 
her  life  in  France,  she  was  now  immensely  stout. 
But  she  still  danced  and  rode,  played  games,  and 


144  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

excelled  in  shooting  with  the  cross-bow.  **  Her 
complexion  was  fresh ;  *  she  had  not  a  wrinkle  on 
her  full  round  face,'  which  was  set  off  by  the  long, 
black  widow's  veil  she  always  wore,  fastened  back 
from  her  forehead  and  falling  down  upon  her 
shoulders.  This  was  for  indoors ;  when  she  went 
out  she  put  a  little  woollen  hat  upon  the  top  of 
it.  Had  we  met  her,  we  should  have  probably 
thought  her  a  jolly  soul — a  Httle  inclined  to  be 
cynical.  But  we  should  have  found  her  good 
company ;  colloquial  in  her  speech,  with  vivid 
turns  of  expression."^ 

At  times,  however,  she  could  blaze  out  as 
fiercely  as  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  herself; 
but  with  more  dignity.  One  who  knew  her  well 
has  said : — "  She  had  these  moods  not  seldom, 
even  with  the  greatest  Princes.  .  .  .  And  at  such 
times  she  was  possessed  by  anger,  and  took  a  lofty 
tone.  Nor  was  anything  in  the  world  so  superb 
as  she  on  such  occasions ;  for  her  tongue  spared 
the  truth  to  no  one."  Her  ability  for  business 
and  power  of  concentration  were  marvellous. 
"  Brantome  says  that  he  watched  her  write  twenty 
long  letters  in  an  afternoon.  And  on  one  of  those 
uncomfortable  journeys  in  a  litter  to  which  ladies 
were  then  subjected,  she,  unconscious  of  joltings 
and  of  stoppings,  would  read  through  ten  pages  of 
parchment — a  dry  proces  verbal — '  as  if  she  were 
a  lawyer  or  reporter,'  without  lifting  her  eyes  till 
she  had  finished.  Her  style  in  writing  is  business- 
like and  terse,  illumined  here  and  there  by  homely 
wit  and  racy  phrase."^ 

1  Miss  Sichel's  The  Later  Years  of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.  256. 

2  Idem, 


XX.]  TOLERANCE   OF   BITTER  JOKES  145 

Perhaps  nothing  better  shows  Catherine's  strong 
nature  and  entire  freedom  from  all  small-minded 
vanity  than  her  tolerance  of  jokes  against  herself. 
When  she  heard  that  the  Protestants  called  their 
biggest  cannon  La  Reine  Mere  because  it  was 
so  heavy  and  unwieldy  that  they  could  not  move 
it — a  joke  which  few  ladies  of  stout  figure  would 
relish  —  she  only  laughed  in  the  most  good- 
humoured  manner  at  the  unflattering  jest.  "  For 
that  of  her  nature  she  was  jovial,  and  loved  a 
good  repartee."  A  contemporary  writer  says : — 
"  She  was  never  gayer  than  when  some  one  brought 
her  a  good  satire  against  herself,  the  bitterer,  ruder, 
coarser,  the  better.  Once  when  she  and  the  King 
of  Navarre  were  standing  in  the  window  of  a 
ground-floor  room,  they  listened  to  two  vagrants 
outside  who  were  roasting  a  goose,  and  who,  as 
they  did  so,  talked  loudly,  telling  ugly  stories  of 
the  Queen,  cursing  her  and  giving  her  foul  names 
for  all  the  evil  she  had  done  to  them.  Where- 
upon the  King  of  Navarre  wished  to  take  leave 
of  her,  intending  to  go  and  have  them  hanged. 
But  she  only  called  through  the  window  to  them : 
''He!  What,  after  all,  has  she  done  to  you  ?  It  is 
thanks  to  her  that  you  have  that  goose  to  roast.'  "^ 

In  her  letters  to  her  son  Henry  she  often  dis- 
plays the  sadness  of  heart  which  came  over  her  as 
she  saw  him  more  and  more  given  up  to  follies, 
and  surrounding  himself  with  others  more  foolish 
than  himself,  whose  advice  he  took  instead  of  hers. 
She  writes  to  him  : — "  Give  orders  for  some  one  to 
tell  me  how  your  alFairs  are  going.  I  do  not  ask 
this  because  I  wish  to  control  them,  but  because  if 

^  Histoire  Universellc,  by  I.  A.  d'Aubigue. 
VOL,  II.  K 


Ue  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  t*^"AP. 

tliey  go  well  my  hccart  will  be  at  ease,  and  if  they 
go  ill,  I  can  help  your  trouble.  .  .  .  For  you  are 
my  all,  and  whether  or  no  you  love  me,  you  do 
not  trust  me  as  you  ought.  Forgive  me  if  I  speak 
straight  out  like  this.  I  have  no  wish  to  live  any 
longer.  I  have  never  cared  for  life  since  your 
father  died,  excepting  as  I  might  serve  you  and 
God."  In  another  letter  to  him  she  says : — "  And 
this  is  my  request,  that  you  will  publish  anew  the 
ordinance  forbidding  swearing  and  blaspheming,  .  .  . 
and  will  punish  those  who  do  not  keep  it,  .  .  . 
and  firmly  resolve  not  to  give  either  bishopric,  or 
any  benefice  with  the  cure  of  souls,  excepting  to 
learned  men  of  good  life."^ 

In  August  1578,  hostilities  again  threatening 
to  break  out,  Catherine  (her  son,  Henry  III., 
having  none  of  the  gift  which  she  possessed  for 
reconciling  hostile  parties)  set  out  on  a  prolonged 
tour  through  the  south  of  France  in  order  to 
prevent  war  if  possible,  the  first  of  those  wonder- 
ful "  journeys  of  pacification  "  in  which  she  was 
engaged  during  the  greater  part  of  the  next  three 
years.  To  Bellievre,  her  Intendant  of  Finance, 
she  writes : — 

*'  It  seems  to  me  that  one  ought  to  quit  every- 
thing else,  and  to  employ  every  means  to  avert  the 
storm  of  war.  I  am  determined  not  to  return  until 
I  see  peace.  .  .  .  But  if  God  gives  me  grace  to 
fulfil  my  desires  I  hope  that  this  kingdom  will  feel 
the  good  of  my  labours,  and  that  enduring  peace 
will  reign  there."  ^ 

One  gazes  in   astonishment  at   this  woman  of 

^  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 
^  Idem. 


XX.]  JOURNEYS   OF   PACIFICATION  147 

sixty,  hampered  by  bodily  infirmities  and  the 
difficulties  of  travel  at  that  period  in  France,  and 
confronted  by  such  apparently  insuperable  obstacles 
in  the  irreconcilable  temper  towards  each  other  of 
the  two  hostile  parties,  resolutely  setting  fortli 
(notwithstanding  that  it  was  an  acute  pain  to  her 
to  thus  absent  herself  from  the  son  whom  she 
adored)  determined  to  overcome  all  difficulties,  to 
carry  out  the  motto  she  had  chosen  when  a  girl 
of  fifteen,  and  to  "  bring  serenity  "  to  her  adopted 
country ;  and  displaying  a  power  of  endurance,  and 
an  ability  to  win  success  even  under  the  most 
adverse  conditions,  which  have  extorted  admiration 
even  from  those  most  prejudiced  against  her.  For 
example.  Miss  Sichel  says : — 

"  It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  indomitable 
spirit  with  which,  as  she  grew  older,  she  pursued 
her  object  in  the  face  of  every  hardship,  every 
obstacle.  Between  1578  and  1581  she  knew  no 
repose.  Driven  by  her  purpose,  she  was  con- 
tinually traversing  France,  amidst  perils  and  dis- 
comforts unimaginable.  So  heavy  in  person  that 
motion  meant  suffering,  she  was  always  on  the 
move ;  so  rheumatic  that  acute  pain  was  chronic, 
she  uncomplainingly  braved  every  kind  of  climate. 
Now  she  was  carried  in  her  litter  under  a  burning 
sun ;  now  she  was  snowed  up  for  weeks,  amid 
all  the  bodily  privations  and  the  difficulties  of 
getting  provisions  that  winter  in  the  country  then 
signified."^ 

The  provinces  to  which  Catherine  chiefly  turned 
her  attention  in  this  attempt  to  prevent  war  were 
Guienne,  Languedoc,  Provence,  and  Dauphinc. 
She  received  no  encouragement  from  those  around 

^  Miss  Sichel's  The  Later  Yean-  of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  p.  313. 


148  CATHERINE   DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

her  in  regard  to  the  task  upon  which  she  was 
bent.  All  thought,  and  said,  that  it  was  a 
hopeless  endeavour,  the  hatred  between  the  two 
factions  having  grown  so  implacable,  and  that 
she  was  attempting  the  impossible.  Nevertheless 
she  managed  to  bring  about  a  conference  between 
the  two  opposing  parties,  and  so  successful  was 
she  in  allaying  their  mutual  feelings  of  enmity  that 
she  ended  by  getting  articles  of  agreement  which 
placed  the  two  religions  on  an  equal  footing  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  both  sides  at  Nerac  in  February 
1579 ;  and  war  was  once  more  averted. 

Catherine's  satisfaction  at  her  success  was 
naturally  considerable.  To  the  Duchesse  d'Uzes 
she  says  (in  another  letter):  "  You  have  understood 
me,  and  I  you,  for  more  than  forty  years  of  kindly 
memories."  And  to  this  lifelong  friend  she  now 
writes : — 

"  I  have  finished  my  labours  here,  and  in  my 
humble  opinion  have  made  a  great  many  persons 
to  lie ;  for  I  have  achieved  that  which  was  said 
to  be  impossible." 

But  there  were  other  provinces  still  to  be 
visited  where  the  difficulties  were  even  greater. 
Thus  in  coming  to  Montpelier  she  approached 
a  city  which  was  on  the  verge  of  an  appeal  to 
arms,  and  known  to  be  inimical  to  her  personally. 
She  writes  to  her  son : — 

"  I  walked  the  whole  length  of  the  city  walls 
and  reached  the  gate,  which  I  found  guarded  by 
arquebusiers,  as  I  had  been  told.  But  that  did 
not  prevent  me  from  going  on  fearlessly,  without 
showing  dread  or  mistrust,  although  they  were 
all  so  near  my  coach  (especially  as  the  road  there 


XX.]  MONTrELIER   PACIFIED  149 

is  narrow)  that  the  butts  of  their  arquebuses 
nearly  touched  my  carriage.  The  Consuls  in 
their  red  robes  and  their  caps,  together  with  a 
great  crowd  of  people  of  both  religions  who  followed 
them,  came  to  meet  me  with  all  humility,  offer- 
ing you  and  me  their  property  and  lives,  with  all 
the  devotion  of  loyal  subjects ;  and  both  parties 
promised  me  on  their  honour  to  live  according 
to  my  commands.  When  I  got  nearly  opposite 
the  gate  another  great  crowd  of  people  came  out 
of  the  town,  all  showing  a  more  friendly  feeling 
than  1  had  been  led  to  expect.  The  fact  that 
I  had  gone  among  them  so  freely  helped  a 
good  deal,  I  am  told,  to  increase  their  confidence, 
and  also  their  certainty  that  peace  was  near.  .  .  . 
I  thought  to  have  managed  to  sleep  here  yesterday, 
so  as  to  escape  the  risk  of  the  plague  by  making 
one  day's  journey,  getting  earlier  to  Provence ; 
but  I  felt  rather  tired,  as  I  did  full  six  leagues 
among  the  rocks  of  this  district  before  my 
dinner."^ 

In  the  recent  troubles  every  church  in  the 
town  had  been  destroyed,  except  one.  And  this 
had  become  a  bone  of  contention.  The  Protestants 
claimed  half  of  it;  the  Roman  Catholics  refused 
to  worship  under  the  same  roof,  and  claimed  the 
whole  building.  She  got  them  to  refer  the  knotty 
point  to  her,  and,  after  much  acrid  discussion, 
arranged  an  amicable  settlement. 

In  this  manner  Catherine  travelled  hither  and 
thither,  smoothing  difiiculties,  overcoming  obstacles 
deliberately  contrived  to  frustrate  her  purpose, 
producing  smiles  where  she  had  been  met  with 
frowns,  and  settling  innumerable  disputes.     Last 

^  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 


150  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

of    all    slie    reached    Dauphine,    regarding   which 
province  she  writes  to  the  Duchesse  d'Uzcs: — 

"  Here  I  am  in  your  land  of  Dauphind,  the 
hilliest  and  most  aggravating  in  which  I  have 
hitherto  been.  Every  day  there  is  cold,  heat, 
rain,  fine  weather,  hail.  And  the  characters  of  the 
people  here  are  just  the  same.  But  God,  who 
leads  me,  is  bringing  me  to  my  goal,  .  .  .  and  in 
ten  days  I  shall  be  in  my  beloved  France  and  in 
the  city  where  is  the  dearest  thing  I  have  in 
the  world.  Report  says  that  you  govern  him ; 
keep  me  in  his  good  graces ;  and  tell  d'Ecars  that 
since  she  has  sat  next  to  him  at  dinner  I  am 
sure  he  no  longer  wishes  to  die."^ 

Again  to  the  same  friend  she  writes : — 

*'  Were  it  not  for  the  plague,  I  w^ould  bring 
you  news  of  your  estate,  but  all  the  neighbour- 
hood round  Uzes  is  so  very  much  infected  that  they 
say  even  the  birds  flying  past  it  fall  dead.  This  has 
made  me  take  the  other  road,  between  the  lakes 
and  the  sea ;  and  there  we  had  to  sleep  two  nights 
in  tents,  camping  thus  in  the  service  of  my  King, 
whom  I  long  to  see  again  in  good  health.  As 
for  me,  mine  is  good,  excepting  that  Porte-Sainte- 
Marie  has  given  me  a  troublesome  catarrh,  which, 
at  the  moment,  has  turned  to  sciatica.  However, 
this  does  not  prevent  my  walking ;  not  very  well, 
though,  so  that  I  am  forced  to  have  a  little  mule 
to  ride  upon  occasions.  I  think  that  the  King 
would  laugh  if  he  saw  me  on  it,  looking  so 
exactly  Hke  the  Mar^chal  de  Cosse,^  But  if  one 
goes  on  living,  one  must  grow  old,  and  truly  one 
is  very  lucky  not  to  feel  it  more.  Vou  have  to 
ride  in  a  carrying  chair,  /  upon  a  mule,  because 

*  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 

'  Proverbial  for  his  stout  and  unwieldy  figure. 


XX.]  SEVENTH    RELIGIOUS   WAR  151 

I  like  to  travel  farther  than  you  do.     Tell  me  that 
I  shall  be  welcome  when  I  return."  ^ 

At  length  her  task  was  accomplished ;  peace 
had  been  created  for  a  time  in  Guienne,  Languedoc, 
Provence,  and  Dauphind.  But  scarcely  had  she 
returned  with  a  joyful  heart  to  Paris  when  similar 
troubles  began  in  the  north,  and  she  had  to  set 
forth  again  on  a  journey  in  December  into  Picardy  ; 
where  also  she  succeeded  for  a  time  in  averting  war. 

But  the  two  religious  parties  had  not  yet  learnt 
to  live  at  peace  together.  Their  adherents  could 
never  refrain  for  long  from  insulting  each  other's 
religion,  thereby  provoking  brawls  which  quickly 
developed  into  open  war;  and  in  this  conduct  the 
Protestants  were  not  a  whit  behind  their  opponents, 
while  they  had  always  a  strong  tendency  to  invoke 
foreign  aid,  a  course  which  enlisted  against  them 
every  one  who  had  a  patriotic  feeling  for  France. 
As  before,  therefore,  this  inherent  animosity  again 
produced  its  natural  result,  and  in  March  1580  the 
Seventh  Religious  War  began.  After  continuing 
for  eight  months  this  war  was  brought  to  an  end 
in  November  by  the  Peace  of  Fleix,  the  terms  of 
which  were  almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  agree- 
ment which  Catherine  had  got  the  two  parties  to 
sign  at  Nerac. 

This  peace,  joined  to  the  exhausted  state  of 
France,  created  by  wars  which  had  continued 
almost  incessantly  for  fourteen  years,  now  caused 
a  cessation  of  the  contest  for  four  years  (1581- 
1585) ;  though  during  these  years  there  were  from 

'  Lettres  do  Catherine  dc  Mcdicis. 


152  CATHERINE   BK   MEDICI  [chap. 

time  to  time  local  conflicts  in  different  parts  of 
France,  while  the  state  of  general  disorder  into 
which  the  country  had  been  brought  by  this  long 
and  bitter  struggle  was  deplorable.  In  June  1584 
Catherine's  fourth  son,  the  Due  d'Alen9on,  died, 
which,  as  Louise  de  Vaudemont  had  no  children, 
left  Henry  of  Navarre  the  next  heir  to  the  throne. 
Catherine's  many  sorrows,  disappointments,  and 
bereavements  began  to  weigh  heavily  upon  her. 
She  writes  about  this  time  : — 

"  I  am  so  much  accustomed  never  to  have  an 
unspoiled  joy  that  it  does  not  seem  so  strange  to 
me  as  it  would  to  another.  .  .  .  That  God  will  be 
pitiful  to  me  who  have  lost  so  many  ;  that  He  will 
not  let  me  see  any  more  of  them  die :  that  is  what 
I  pray  of  His  mercy,  and  that  He  will  allow  me  to 
depart,  as  befits  my  age."  ^ 

Catherine  de'  Medici  praying  that  because  so 
many  of  her  dear  ones  are  gone  she  may  depart 
this  life  as  befits  her  age,  is  certainly  not  the 
picture  of  her  which  has  been  painted  for  us  by  a 
long  succession  of  writers.  Yet  these  are  her  own 
written  words,  unearthed  after  three  centuries  by 
the  patient  labour  of  an  age  which  seeks  to  base 
its  knowledge  of  history  on  more  sure  foundations 
than  those  which  sufficed  for  previous  times. 

In  July  1585  the  operations  of  the  League 
caused  the  commencement  of  the  Eighth  Religious 
War  (sometimes  called  the  War  of  the  Three 
Henrys)  between  Henry  III.,  Henry  of  Navarre, 
and  the  League,  under  Henry,  Duke  of  Guise. ^ 

^  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis. 

2  Called  "  Le  Balafre/'  from  a  scar  on  the  left  cheek  received  in 
battle. 


XX.]  EIGHTH    RELIGIOUS   WAR  153 

Catherine  was  now  sixty -six  years  old,  and  was 
wearied  with  this  long  struggle  to  create  peace ; 
nevertheless,  before  this  war  began  she  took  a  toil- 
some journey  into  Champagne  to  endeavour  to 
induce  Guise  to  keep  from  war ;  but  without 
avail.  About  this  time  also  she  became  so  dis- 
gusted with  the  follies  of  Henry  III.,  and  the 
persistency  with  which  he  insisted  on  invariably 
choosing  the  most  ill-advised  courses  of  action, 
that  she  removed  from  the  Louvre,  and  gave  up 
taking  any  part  in  public  affairs.  We  read  of 
her  ordering  her  attendants  to  carry  her  "  chair " 
outside  the  city  walls  and  to  put  her  down  for 
a  while  in  the  green  fields,  that  she  might,  amid 
the  quiet  peace  of  country  scenes,  gain  some  rest 
of  mind  and  allay  her  utter  weariness  of  spirit  at 
the  political  condition  of  the  country  and  her  son's 
refusal  to  listen  to  her  advice. 

But  Catherine  had  adopted  France  as  her 
country,  and  notwithstanding  the  long  abuse  she 
had  endured  from  the  French,  was  as  intensely 
national  as  if  born  a  Frenchwoman.  And  when 
she  saw  one  third  of  the  kingdom  occupied  by  the 
troops  of  the  I^eague,  another  third  by  those  of 
Henry  of  Navarre,  a  German  army  also  invading 
the  country,  and  France  threatened  with  complete 
dismemberment,  she  came  forth  from  her  retire- 
ment to  make  one  more  effort  to  sate  the  country 
and  her  son's  throne.  War  now  raged  over  the 
whole  of  France,  but  Catiierine,  though  slie  was 
by  this  time  sixty-eight,  set  out  on  the  last  of  her 
many  journeys  in  the  cause  of  peace,  one  which 
required  no  little  courage,  and,  travelling  through 
a  large  part  of  France  which  was  in  revolt  from 


154  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDICI  [chap. 

her  son,  held  a  meeting  with  Henry  of  Navan*e 
near  Cognac.  This,  however,  produced  only 
partial  results,  while  news  of  the  alarming  state 
of  affairs  in  Paris,  created  by  the  machinations  of 
the  League,  necessitated  her  hurrying  back  to  the 
capital.  On  her  way  thither  she  heard  at  Mort, 
in  February  1587,  of  Ehzabeth  of  England  having 
had  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  executed,^  that  daughter- 
in-law  to  whom  Catherine  had  set  Latin  exercises, 
and  of  whom  she  had  written  twenty-eight  years 
before  that  she  "had  only  to  smile  to  turn  all 
Frenchmen's  heads."  Elizabeth  had  put  Mary  to 
death  because  she  was  a  dangerous  rival  to  her 
throne,  and  on  account  of  the  plots  against  herself 
of  which  Mary  had  become  the  centre.  If  it  did 
not  cross  Catherine's  own  mind  it  must  have 
crossed  the  minds  of  others  that  Elizabeth's  posi- 
tion in  the  matter  was  exactly  that  in  which 
Catherine  had  been  placed  in  December  1560 
with  regard  to  the  Prince  of  Conde,  and  yet 
that  she  had  not  acted  as  Elizabeth  had  done, 
even  though  she  would  have  had  more  excuse, 
since  she  had  merely  to  allow  (as  she  was  strongly 
pressed  to  do)  a  sentence  of  death  already  passed 
against  him  by  others  to  take  effect. 

On  arrival  in  Paris  Catherine  found  a  revolu- 
tionary government  installed  there,  which,  prompted 
by  the  League,  was  intriguing  with  Spain  both  to 
seize  the  King  and  also  to  make  over  Boulogne 
to  Philip  II.  in  order  to  assist  the  Armada  which 
he  was  preparing  for  the  invasion  of  England. 
However,  these  plans  were  eventually  foiled,  and 
after  a  time  Henry  III.  was  able  to  leave  Paris 

^  She  was  executed  on  18th  February  1587. 


XX.]  PARIS   IN   REVOLT  155 

in  command  of  an  army  to  attack  the  Germans 
and  expel  them  from  France. 

The  war  continued  during  the  rest  of  the  year 
1587,  but  at  length,  in  February  1588,  a  sort  of 
peace  was  patched  up  between  Henry  III.  and 
the  Duke  of  Guise.  Paris,  however,  was  entirely 
on  tlie  side  of  the  latter,  and  on  the  verge  of 
revolution ;  the  King  therefore  ordered  Guise  not 
to  come  to  the  capital.  This  order  he  disobeyed, 
pretending  not  to  have  understood  it,  and  entered 
the  city  on  the  9th  May,  being  received  in  the 
streets  with  the  usual  shouts  of  "  One  religion." 
The  King  was  urged  by  those  around  him  to 
have  Guise  assassinated  on  his  leaving  the 
Louvre,  and  had  determined  on  doing  so ;  but 
at  the  interview  between  the  King  and  Guise, 
Catherine,  suddenly  seeing  what  her  son  con- 
templated, took  him  aside  and  spoke  to  him  so 
forcibly  that  he  allowed  Guise  (who  on  entering 
the  Louvre  had  wondered  if  he  should  leave  the 
palace  alive)  to  depart  unharmed.  Three  days 
later  Paris  rose  in  revolt  on  behalf  of  Guise 
and  the  League ;  barricades  were  quickly  erected, 
cutting  off  the  different  quarters  of  the  royal 
troops  from  each  other,  the  Swiss  troops  were 
forced  to  surrender,  and  the  King,  with  his  wife 
Louise  and  liis  mother,  protected  by  a  very  small 
force,  were  besieged  in  the  Louvre.  Henry  III.'s 
cause  seemed  ruined,  and  Catherine  must  have 
felt  that  it  was  chiefly  his  own  fsiult,  through  the 
many  follies  he  had  committed.  We  are  told 
that  as  the  King,  the  Queen,  and  the  Queen 
Mother  sat  at  dinner  on  the  evening  that  this 
revolution  took  place,   Catherine,  "  while  her  son 


156  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

sat  unmoved,  silently  shed  great  tears  throughout 
the  entire  repast."^  However,  next  day  Henry 
managed  to  escape  from  the  Louvre,  and  fled 
from  Paris,  leaving  his  mother  to  see  what  she 
could  do  by  her  well-known  gift  for  reconciUation. 
Issuing  from  the  Louvre  almost  unaccompanied 
Catherine  went  to  seek  the  Duke  of  Guise.  Her 
journey  across  the  city  was  a  difficult  operation. 
The  streets  were  everywhere  blocked  by  barricades, 
and  at  each  of  these  it  was  necessary  to  induce 
those  who  guarded  them  to  allow  her  to  pass  and 
to  make  an  opening  for  her  sedan  chair.  But 
though  the  Leaguers  were  in  open  rebelhon  she 
induced  them  to  do  so,  "  all  heads  being  uncovered 
to  the  Queen  Mother."  Nothing  could  show 
better  than  this  the  influence  which  Catherine 
(once  so  despised  by  the  French  people)  had  in 
thirty  years  gained  among  them.  As  so  often 
before,  she  was  successful  in  assuaging  the  angry 
passions  raging ;  and  though  everything  was 
against  her  she  succeeded  in  getting  Guise  to 
accompany  her  to  Chartres,  where  the  King  was, 
and  in  arranging  terms  of  peace,  though  the  latter 
practically  left  Guise  all-powerful  in  the  kingdom 
(11th  July  1588).  Within  a  fortnight  after  this 
peace  was  made  in  France  the  Spanish  Armada 
appeared  off  the  coast  of  Cornwall,  and  the  great 
ten  days'  naval  battle  between  Spain  and  England 
began  in  which  the  maritime  power  of  Spain  was 
utterly  destroyed. 

But  peace  was  not  yet   to   come  to  France ; 
and  round  Catherine's  death-bed   the   storm  was 

*  Recit  d'un  Bourgeois  de  Paris,  by  Dupuy. 


XX.]  MURDER   OF   HENRY   OF  GUISE  157 

still  to  rage.  Henry  III.  was  now  determined 
to  assassinate  Guise,  but,  remembering  what  had 
taken  place  before,  carefully  kept  his  design  from 
his  mother.  Catherine,  worn  out  by  so  many 
labours  and  anxieties,  was  by  this  time  in  a 
dying  condition,  and  removed  to  Blois,  that  forti- 
fied chateau  on  the  Loire  which  Francis  I.  had 
so  greatly  improved  and  enlarged.  Thither  in 
October  the  King  summoned  the  States- General 
to  assemble ;  and  there,  on  the  23rd  December 
1588,  Henry  carried  out  his  plot  to  rid  himself  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise. 

In  the  great  northern  wing,  built  by  Francis  I., 
and  affording  such  a  splendid  example  of  French 
Renaissance  architecture,  Catherine  in  her  richly 
decorated  range  of  apartments  lay  dying.  Close 
by  rose  the  wonderful  outside  staircase,  the  escalier 
a  jour,^  which  more  than  fifty  years  back  she  had 
so  often  seen  thronged  by  the  laughing  groups  of 
the  Petite  Bande ;  but  a  very  different  atmosphere 
now  pervaded  the  castle  of  Blois,  and  the  gloom  of 
tragedy  and  death  overshadowed  the  abode  which 
Francis  had  delighted  to  see  brightened  with  the 
smiles  of  beauty  and  resounding  with  laughter  and 
the  sallies  of  wit.  Catherine's  apartments  were  on 
the  first  floor,  while  the  King  occupied  the  suite 
of  apartments  on  the  floor  above ;  and  he  had 
warned  all  in  the  plot,  on  pain  of  death,  not  to 
allow  the  Queen  Mother  to  know  what  was  going 
on.  The  murder  was  secretly  debated  by  the 
King  and  Council  after  the  manner  of  an  execu- 
tion.    It  was  to  be    carried   out  by  the  "  Forty- 

*  Said  to  have  been  designed  for  Frauds  by  Leonardo  da  Viuci  from 
the  model  of  a  spiral  shell. 


158  CATHEltlNE    1)E'    MEDICI  [chap. 

five,"  the  band  of  gentlemen  whicli  Henry  had 
formed  as  his  personal  bodyguard ;  some  of  the 
band  were  placed  in  the  King's  bedchamber,  and 
some  in  the  passage  outside  it.  The  Duke  of 
Guise,  who  had  received  intimation  that  there  was 
a  plot  on  foot,  but  would  not  attend  to  the  warn- 
ing, being  summoned  from  the  council  chamber  to 
speak  with  the  King  in  his  cabinet,  was  attacked 
as  he  went  thither  by  the  members  of  the  "  Forty- 
five  "  stationed  for  that  purpose,  and  fell  dead  on 
the  floor  of  the  King's  bedchamber.  Henry  III. 
at  once  descended  to  his  mother's  apartments,  and, 
entering  the  room  where  she  lay  ill,  announced  to 
her  what  he  had  done,  saying  that  now  at  last 
he  felt  secure  on  his  throne.  Catherine,  knowing 
what  the  vengeance  of  the  League  would  be,  and 
how  this  deed  would  again  set  light  to  the  fires 
of  war,  but  too  ill  to  attempt  any  longer  to  guide 
the  vessel  amidst  so  many  breakers,  told  him  he 
was  much  mistaken  and  would  live  to  repent  his 
act.^  Weak  as  she  was,  she  dragged  herself  from 
her  bed  and  went  to  visit  the  old  Cardinal  Bourbon 
in  the  prison  to  which  he  had  been  consigned 
by  the  King's  orders ;  but  he  only  greeted  her 
with  the  old  cry  that  all  these  misfortunes  were 
the  result  of  her  policy  of  tolerating  two  religions. 
The  injustice  of  these  reproaches,  combined  with 
distress  of  mind  on  account  of  the  troubles  she 
correctly  foresaw  would  be  the  result  of  her  son's 
deed,  threw  her  into  a  high  fever,  and  on  returning 
from  the  interview,  she  took  to  her  bed  never  to 
rise  from  it  again.     And  a  few  days  later,  on  the 

1  As  a  consequence  of  this  deed  Henry  III.  was  himself  murdered  by 
the  League  six  months  afterwards. 


xx.j  t)EATH    OF   CATHERINE  159 

5th  January  1589,  Catherine  de'  Medici  ended  her 
long  and  storm-tossed  life.  She  was  three  months 
short  of  seventy  years  of  age  when  she  died. 

Two  women  attended  her  affectionately  through- 
out her  illness,  and  were  with  her  to  the  last 
—  her  much-loved  daughter-in-law,  Louise  de 
Vaudemont,  and  her  favourite  granddaughter, 
Christine  of  Lorraine.^  To  the  former  Catherine 
left  as  a  parting  gift  her  beloved  chateau  of 
Chenonceaux — a  solid  boon  to  Louise,  who  on  her 
husband's  death  shortly  afterwards  was  left  very 
badly  off.  Catherine  during  her  lifetime  had 
erected  in  St  Denis  a  double  monument  for 
Henry  II.  and  herself;  but  when  she  died  the 
war  which  at  once  broke  out  again  on  the  murder 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise  did  not  permit  of  her 
body  being  removed  thither,  and  she  was  buried 
tem^iorarily  in  the  chapel  at  Blois.  But  in  1609, 
at  the  entreaty  of  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme, 
who  had  always  liked  Catherine,  her  remains  were 
removed  by  Henry  IV.  to  St  Denis,  and  buried 
by  the  side  of  her  husband.  The  monument  over 
them  consists  of  the  two  recumbent  figures  of 
Henry  II.  and  Catherine,  lying  on  a  bronze  couch. 


The  character  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  as  it 
stands  revealed  to  us  by  the  fuller  information 
we  now  possess,  and  divested  of  that  cloud  of 
mystery,  fable,  and  misrepresentation  which  has  so 
long  been  gathered  round  it  by  partisan  writers,  is 
not  difficult  to  unravel.     That  which  is  its  salient 

1  See  p.  109. 


160  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDlCl  [chap. 

feature  is  the  extraordinary  way  in  which  (though 
always  suffering  abuse  as  an  "  ItaHan  ")  she  threw 
herself  heart  and  soul  into  the  cause  of  France, 
and  amidst  difficulties,  dangers,  and  discourage- 
ments enough  to  have  made  the  stoutest  heart 
abandon  the  effort  in  despair,  laboured  from  the  age 
of  forty-two  to  that  of  seventy  to  bring  peace  to 
a  country  devastated  by  a  succession  of  vindictive 
wars.  Thus  one  of  those  Venetian  ambassadors 
who  have  so  often  formed  our  guides  in  this  study 
of  her  life,  calls  her  "  the  great  moderatress "  ; 
while  the  highest  authority  has  said  of  her  that 
"  she  was  an  indefatigable  worker  in  the  cause  of 
peace  in  her  adopted  country."^ 

In  the  previous  history  of  Catherine's  family 
we  have  seen  that  one  of  their  chief  characteristics 
was  a  unique  gift  for  abating  strife,  and  making 
those  who  were  at  feud  lay  aside  their  enmity  and 
live  at  peace.  It  was  their  special  talent  in  this 
respect  which  had  helped  them  to  rise,  and  had 
made  their  rule  of  Florence  so  successful.  And  in 
Catherine  this  family  characteristic  comes  out  in 
even  stronger  degree  than  in  any  of  her  ancestors. 
Again  and  again  —  at  Orleans,  at  Roussillon,  at 
Saint-Germain-en-Laye,  at  Beaulieu,  at  Ndrac,  at 
Fleix,  at  Chartres,  and  on  many  other  occasions — 
she  proved  her  peculiar  gift  for  pouring  oil  on 
troubled  waters  and  getting  bitter  foes  to  make 
peace.  This  is  the  chief  characteristic  which  she 
shows  during  the  thirty  years  of  her  widowhood. 
The  other  qualities  which  she  possessed  have  been 
successively  indicated  by  the  facts  of  her  life  as  we 
have  followed  her  long  and  harassed  career  from 

1  The  Cambridge  Modem  History,  vol.  iii.  chap.  i. 


XX.]  HER   FRIENDSHIPS  161 

her  childhood  in  the    INIediei   Palace  in  Florence 
to  her  death  at  gloom-darkened  Blois. 

And  if  any  indication  of  character  is  afforded 
(as  it  is)  by  the  persons  whom  an  individual  has 
chiefly  liked  through  life,  then  it  is  not  without 
significance  that,  omitting  her  husband  and  children, 
the  persons  of  whom,  at  dilFcrcnt  times  in  her  life, 
we  find  Catherine  chiefly  fond — nay  more,  the  only 
persons  of  whom  we  hear  that  she  was  specially 
fond — are  the  nuns  at  the  Murate,  JNlaria  Salviati, 
Elizabeth  of  Austria,  and  above  all  Louise  de 
Vaudemont,  the  three  latter  all  of  them  women 
who  in  a  corrupt  age  were  like  shining  lights  in 
a  dark  sky.^  Nor,  again,  is  it  without  significance 
that  so  many  notable  Protestants  should  have 
owed  their  lives  to  her,  such  as  Cond^,  Navarre,  De 
I'Hopital,  Aldobrandini,  Carnesecchi,  and  others ; 
or  that  one  who  (in  the  circumstances  of  France) 
had  special  reason  to  dread  making  unnecessary 
foes,  should  yet  have  endured  the  wi-ath  of  the 
Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain  rather  than  ever 
permit  the  Inquisition  to  be  established  in  the 
country  she  ruled.  These  things,  together  with 
the  fact  that  the  two  murders  of  which  she  has  in 
former  days  been  accused  are  now  acknowledged 
to  have  been  unjustly  laid  at  her  door,  necessitate 
a  very  different  view  of  the  character  of  Catherine 
de'  JNledici  from  that  which  has  been  handed  down 
to  us  by  the  biassed  historians  of  an  age  of  bitter 
conflict,  and  has  so  long  provided  material  for 
the  writers  of  sensational  fiction. 

'  We  may  well  ask  whether  it  is  likely  that  persons  like  Louise  de 
Vauderfiont  would  have  been  fond  of  Catherine  if  the  latter  had  been 
keeping  a  poison  cupboard  in  the  apartments  in  wliich  Louise  nursed  her. 
See  also  chap.  xxvi.  p.  343. 

VOL.    II.  L 


162  CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  [chap. 

It  has  already  been  remarked^  that  to  those 
who  start  from  the  basis  that  she  was  "  a  villain  " 
Catherine  de'  Medici  will  always  be  an  enigma. 
To  look  at  her  with  affection  is  impossible ;  one 
might  as  well  feel  affection  for  a  hundred-ton 
gun.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  regard  her 
"  with  hatred  "  ^  are  not  those  who  can  draw  a  true 
picture  of  her ;  inevitably,  under  such  auspices, 
stories  long  since  discarded  by  history  are  given 
more  or  less  credit,  points  which  tell  against 
her  are  painted  in  unduly  strong  colours,  and 
those  which  tell  in  her  favour  are  belittled  and 
robbed  of  any  weight  by  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  put,  until  a  figure  is  produced  which  is 
an  incongruous  impossibility,  and  which  has  to  be 
declared  an  "enigma"  and  a  "paradox."  Those 
only  will  understand  Catherine  de'  Medici  who 
will  look  at  her  with  a  calm  ^dispassionateness. 

If,  then,  we  may  neither  hate  nor  love,  what 
remains  ?  Admiration  for  strength,  for  great 
ability,  for  untiring  energy,  for  a  self-control 
which  has  seldom  been  equalled,  for  a  wisdom 
beyond  her  time  (enabUng  her  to  see  that  the  only 
policy  which  can  give  peace  to  a  country  whose 
people  have  taken  up  opposite  views  in  religion  is 
that  of  causing  different  religious  bodies  to  learn 
to  live  side  by  side  without  conflict),  for  steadfast 
determination  to  do  the  best  for  France,  for  per- 
severing endeavour,  through  countless  discourage- 
ments, to  be  a  peacemaker.  These  are  the  things, 
confessed  even  by  her  enemies,  which  we  are  to 
admire  in  Catherine  de'  Medici ;  and  each  fresh 
record  brought  to  light  shows  more  clearly  that 
they   are    justly   to   be    attributed   to   her.      She 

1  Page  6.  ^  Page  60. 


XX.]     "AN  INDEFATIGABLE  PEACEMAKER"       163 

did  not  succeed :  but  she  splendidly  tried.  And 
it  is  certain  that  where  she  did  not  succeed  none 
other  of  her  time  would  have  done  so ;  for  neither 
in  Germany,  England,  or  Flanders  was  it  found 
possible  to  prevent  the  forces  let  loose  by  the 
Reformation  from  resulting  in  similar  conflicts. 
While  in  none  of  those  countries  was  the  attempt 
made,  as  it  was  made  in  France,  to  attain  that 
mutual  toleration  which  all  countries  have  since 
found  is  the  only  sound  pohcy. 

We  have  surveyed  the  task ;  and  we  have  seen 
the  effort  which  Catherine  made  to  cope  with  it. 
Sectarian  partisans  may  continue  to  battle  over 
her  conduct,  but  the  point  on  which  the  historian 
will  fix  his  eye  is :  —  Did  Catherine,  amidst  the 
terrible  woes  which  came  upon  the  French  people 
through  the  birth  of  a  new  form  of  religion,  by 
her  actions  increase  those  woes,  or  did  she  diminish 
them  ?  This  is  the  sole  issue  upon  which  history, 
as  distinguished  from  religious  controversy,  will 
fix  its  attention  and  will  judge  her.  And  on  this 
issue  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  what  the  verdict  will 
be;  in  fact  it  has  already  been  pronounced.  Her 
splendid  fight  for  a  hitherto  unheard-of  principle 
(that  two  religions  should  be  allowed  to  exist,  each 
recognised  by  the  State)  was  a  fight  to  bring  peace 
to  France  by  what  we  all  now  know  to  be  the 
only  means  by  which  peace  in  such  matters  can 
be  either  obtained  or  preserved.  And,  beginning 
from  her  three  magnificent  efforts  in  the  year  1561 
by  this  means  to  prevent  France  from  drifting  into 
civil  war,  down  to  the  seventh  and  last  occasion 
when  she  brought  about  peace  for  a  time  by  the 


\CA  CATHERINE   DE'   MEDTCT  [chap.  xx. 

same  means,  Catherine  at  each  juncture  did  the 
most  that  any  one  could  do  to  prevent,  or  to  allay, 
the  miseries  of  France.  And  just  so  far  as  she 
obtained  pauses  in  the  conflict  (some  of  them 
lasting  for  several  years)  did  she  assuage  and 
diminish  the  sufferings  which  that  conflict  created. 
AVith  the  result  that  the  name  given  her  by 
the  leading  modern  authority  on  the  subject,  in 
summing  up  her  character  and  work,  is  that  of 
''an  indefatigable  peacemaker"  And  with  that 
verdict  the  whole  issue  regarding  her  conduct  is 
conclusively  given  in  her  favour. 

Upon  this  last  scion  of  Cosimo's  branch 
devolved  a  task  severer  far  than  had  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  any  of  her  family  who  had  gone  before. 
Even  that  of  her  ancestor,  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae, 
pales  before  that  which  fell  upon  the  shoulders  of 
his  last  descendant,  the  baby-girl  upon  whom  in 
her  cradle  Cardinal  Giulio  had  looked  down  in  the 
almost  empty  Medici  Palace,  and  round  whose  path 
he  wove  so  many  thorny  briars. 


PART  n 


PART   II 

We  have  done  with  that  elder  branch  of  the 
family  which  in  the  course  of  a  hundred  and 
ninety  years,  beginning  from  the  humble  position 
they  occupied  in  the  time  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci, 
in  the  second  generation  had  created  a  new 
epoch  for  Florence,  in  the  fourth  had  directed  the 
politics  of  all  Italy,  in  the  fifth  had  swayed  the 
destinies  of  Europe,  and  in  the  seventh  had  seated 
its  last  descendant  on  the  throne  of  a  Queen  of 
France,  and  governed  that  country  through  thirty 
years  of  a  most  troubled  time.  We  have  now  to 
turn  to  the  descendants  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci's 
second  son,  that  younger  branch  which  carried  on 
the  succession  after  the  death  of  Alessandro,  gained 
the  crown  which  the  achievements  of  the  elder 
branch  had  made  possible,  and  which  had  been  the 
long  dream  of  Giulio  de'  Medici,  and  after  ruling 
over  Tuscany  for  two  hundred  years,  brought  the 
family  to  an  end  in  1743. 

Beginning  with  Lorenzo,  the  brother  of  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae,  there  are  of  this  younger  branch 
four  generations  before  we  reach  that  which  suc- 
ceeded to  the  rule  of  Tuscany  after  the  death  of 
Alessandro.  And  while  the  first  and  second  of 
these  have  scarcely  any  separate  history  from  that 
of  the   elder   branch,  with   the   third   and   fourth 

167 


168         HISTORY   OF   YOUNGER   BRANCH 

generations  it  is  otherwise ;  these  have  an  inde- 
pendent history  of  their  own,  particularly  in  the 
case  of  Giovanni  and  his  wife,  Catherine  Sforza, 
and  their  celebrated  son,  Giovanni  delle  Bande 
Nere.  But  although  the  consideration  of  their 
history  involves  retracing  our  steps,  it  has  the 
compensating  advantage  that  the  story  of  their 
lives  often  throws  a  sidelight  on  that  of  the 
elder  branch.  The  time  of  Giovanni  and  Catherine 
Sforza  is  contemporary  with  that  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  Pietro  the  Unfortunate,  and  the 
"  Interregnum  " ;  and  the  time  of  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere  with  that  of  Leo  X.  and  Clement  VII. 
Lastly,  the  reigns  of  Cosimo  I.  and  his  son  Francis  I. 
are  contemporaneous  with  the  long  life  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici. 


I'LATK  XL  I  I. 


I-(»RKNZ(I,   JJRdXriKR    OF    COSI.MO    PATER    PATRIAK    (l.ORKNZO    THK    KJ,1>Kr). 

By  Bronziiio. 

Alinari]  '  H\ffiz!  OoU-ry. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

LORENZO   (the  elder) 
Born  1395.     Died  1440. 

Lorenzo,^  the  second  son  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci, 
generally  called  Lorenzo  the  Elder  to  distinguish 
him  from  his  grandson  of  the  same  name,'^  took 
no  part  in  that  public  life  which  formed  the  chief 
occupation  of  his  brother  Cosimo.  He  was  of  a 
retiring  disposition,  without  ambition  or  taste  for 
public  affairs,  and  was  content  to  be  a  humble 
assistant  to  his  more  capable  elder  brother,  and  to 
confine  himself  to  the  banking  concerns  of  the 
family.  He  shared  in  the  banishment  of  1433, 
and  in  the  triumphant  return  of  1434,  and  lived 
for  six  years  after  that  event,  dying  in  1440.  He 
thus  lived  long  enough  to  see  his  brother  exercising 
the  chief  influence  in  the  State,  though  not  to  see 
all  the  subsequent  developments  of  the  remaining 
twenty-four  years  of  Cosimo's  strenuous  life.  We 
see  him  in  Benozzo  Gozzoli's  picture  in  the  Medici 
chapel,  riding  by  Cosimo's  side  on  a  mule ;  and  the 
mutual  attitude  of  the  two  brothers  is  undoubtedly 
correctly  represented.  Lorenzo  married  Ginevra 
Cavalcanti,  and  left  one  son.  Pier  Francesco,  who 
was  about  twenty-five  years  old  when  his  father 
died. 

'  Plate  XLII.  2  See  Appeudix  I. 

169 


no  TIER   FRANCESCO   (THE   ELDER)        [chap. 

PIER  FRANCESCO  (the  eldee) 
Bom  1416.     Died  1476. 

Pier  Francesco,^  son  of  Lorenzo,  generally 
called  Pier  Francesco  the  Elder  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  grandson  of  the  same  name,^  was  eighteen 
when  the  family  were  banished,  and  he  accompanied 
his  father  in  their  exile  to  Venice.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  they  returned,  and  in  a  short  time  his 
uncle  Cosimo  became  the  chief  power  in  the  State ; 
while  the  death  of  his  father  six  years  later  left 
Pier  Francesco  head  of  his  branch  of  the  family. 
Like  his  father,  he  preferred  a  retired  life ;  and 
though  his  share  of  the  family  wealth,  divided 
between  them  in  1453,  was  nearly  as  great  as 
that  of  his  uncle  Cosimo,  he  hved  very  quietly, 
taking  little  part  in  public  affairs,  and  confining 
himself  to  the  banking  business  of  tlie  family. 
Nor  did  he  nourish  any  jealousy  towards  his  uncle 
Cosimo  and  his  cousins,  Piero  and  Giovanni,  on 
account  of  the  more  exalted  position  they  had 
come  to  occupy  in  the  State.  He  was  fifty  when 
Cosimo  Pater  Patriae  died,  and  he  survived  his 
cousin,  Piero  il  Gottoso,  seeing  the  first  seven 
years  of  the  rule  of  the  latter's  son,  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent.  Pier  Francesco  died  in  1476  at  the 
age  of  sixty-one.  He  married  somewhat  late  in 
life  Laudomia  Acciajoli,  and  left  two  sons,  Lorenzo 
and  Giovanni,  aged  respectively  thirteen  and  nine 
when  their  father  died.  None  of  this  younger 
branch  possessed  the  financial  talent  which  dis- 
tinguished the  elder  branch,  so  that  their  wealth, 

»  Plate  XLIII.  2  See  Appendix  I. 


PLATE  XLlll. 


A  fur 


l'Ii;i{     lllANt'ESCO,    SON    OV    IJIHKNZO    (iMKU     I  HAM  i:s(  u     IMi:    Cl.DKIl). 

Uy  Hi'dii/.ino. 


[rjfiziO'idh'n/. 


xxi]  LORENZO   (THE   YOUNGER)  171 

instead  of  increasing,  gradually  diminished;  but 
nevertheless  Pier  Francesco  at  his  death  left  his 
two  sons  very  rich.  Bronzino's  portrait  of  him 
(Plate  XLIli.)  is  taken  from  Filippino  Lippi's 
picture  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  painted  for 
Pier  Francesco's  younger  son,  Giovanni,  in  1496 ; 
in  which  picture  Pier  Francesco  and  his  son 
Giovanni  are  introduced  in  the  same  way  as 
Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  his  sons,  and  grandsons 
had  been  in  Botticelli's  picture  on  the  same  subject 
painted  thirty  years  before  for  Piero  il  Gottoso/ 

LORENZO  (the  younger) 

COMMONLY    CALLED    LoRENZO    "  PoPOLAKO  " 
Bom  1463.     Died  1607. 

Lorenzo  the  Younger^  and  his  brother  Giovanni, 
the  two  sons  of  Pier  Francesco  the  Elder,3  failed  to 
continue  the  attitude  towards  the  elder  branch  of 
the  family  which  had  been  maintained  by  their 
father  and  grandfather.  Their  father  died  while 
they  were  still  boys,  and  by  the  time  that  they 
were  grown  up  their  second  cousin,  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  had  created  for  himself  and  his  branch 
of  the  family  a  position  in  Italy  of  such  weight  and 
importance  that  it  resembled  that  of  a  sovereign 
ruler;  he  was  entertaining  as  an  equal  the  rulers 
of  other  states,  his  children  were  making  exalted 
marriages,  and  the  whole  life  of  the  elder  branch 
was  quite  different  from  that  of  the  younger.  All 
this  created  much  jealousy  in  the  minds  of  the 

'  VoL  i.  p.  17G. 
No  portrait  exists   of  Loreuzo   di  Pier  Francesco  (Loreuzo   the 
Younger). 

*  Hce  Appendix  I. 


m  LORENZO  (THE   YOUNGER)  [chap 

younger  branch,  who  found  themselves  occupying 
a  very  inferior  position  to  their  cousins,  and  they 
consequently  began  to  exhibit  a  marked  coldness 
towards  the  latter.  It  was  in  order  to  allay  this 
feeling  that  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  brought 
about  the  engagement  of  his  daughter  Maria  to 
Giovanni,  the  younger  of  the  two  brothers ;  but 
this  match  was  unfortunately  prevented  from 
taking  place  owing  to  her  death  in  1487.  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  however,  managed  to  keep  this 
jealousy  from  growing  stronger  so  long  as  he 
lived,  and  it  did  not  come  to  a  head  until  after 
his  death  in  1492.  Nor  did  the  younger  branch 
fail  to  participate  to  some  extent  in  the  general 
exaltation  of  the  family.  For  in  January  1493 
we  find  Isabella  d'Este,  Marchioness  of  Mantua, 
in  a  letter  to  her  sister  Beatrice,  mentioning 
Lorenzo,  son  of  Pier  Francesco,  as  one  of  the 
four  sponsors  of  her  lately-born  daughter;  and 
saying  that  his  brother  Giovanni  had  come  to 
Mantua  to  represent  Lorenzo  at  the  baptism  of 
the  child. 

Soon  after  this  the  two  brothers  became  so 
incensed  against  their  cousin  Pietro  the  Unfortu- 
nate that  the  jealousy  they  had  long  nourished 
against  the  elder  branch  was  no  longer  restrained, 
and  they  became,  as  already  noted,  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  rousing  the  ill  feeling  against  him  which 
culminated  in  the  banishment  of  the  elder  branch 
in  1494 ;  we  are  told  that  it  was  principally  owing 
to  their  representations  that  Charles  VIII.  turned 
aside  from  Pisa,  and  instead  of  taking  the  coast 
road  thence  to  Rome,  advanced  upon  Florence. 
This  conduct  of  theirs,  together  with  their  adopt- 


XXI.]  ENEMY   OF  SAVONAROLA  173 

ing  for  a  time  the  name  of  "  Popolano "  and 
erasing  the  family  arms  from  their  palace,  was 
never  forgiven  by  the  elder  branch. 

After  the  elder  branch  had  been  thus  driven 
out,  Lorenzo,  who  w^as  a  man  of  very  mediocre 
abilities,  became  (as  the  reward  for  his  conduct 
towards  the  elder  branch  of  his  family)  a  member 
of  the  Government.  But  the  position  only  served 
to  demonstrate  his  want  of  any  capacity,  and  he 
was  merely  one  among  other  nonentities  who 
nominally  ruled  Florence  while  all  the  real  power 
was  wielded  by  Savonarola. 

And  this  was  undoubtedly  the  reason  why 
the  Pope  was  able  so  easily  to  create  a  party  in 
Florence  antagonistic  to  Savonarola,^  and  possess- 
ing the  power  to  bring  him  to  disaster.  Men  of 
the  mental  calibre  of  Lorenzo,  composing  nominally 
the  ruling  body  of  the  State,  but  being  thrust  into 
the  background  by  the  more  able  character  of 
Savonarola,  resented  this  and  nourished  a  jealousy 
of  him  which  made  them  ready  to  become  the 
Pope's  instruments  in  order  to  get  rid  of  him. 

Lorenzo  and  Giovanni  took  in  regard  to 
Savonarola  an  exactly  similar  course  to  that  which 
they  had  adopted  in  the  case  of  their  cousin 
Pietro,  fanning  the  ill-feeling  against  the  dominant 
Prior  of  San  Marco,  and  endeavouring  to  derive 
advantage  for  themselves  by  heading  the  party 
who  were  being  made  use  of  by  the  Pope  to 
destroy  him.  And  it  appears  to  have  been  at 
their  instigation^   that   the   attack  was   made  on 

'  Vol.  i.  p.  34G. 

*  Lorenzo's  brother  Giovanni,  then  on  his  way  from  Forli  to  Pisa 
(chap.  xxii.  p.  200),  appears  to  have  taken  part  witli  his  brother  in 
this  matter,  as  he  is  mentioned  as  being  the  principal  instigator  of 
the  attack  on  San  Marco. 


174  LORENZO   (THE   YOUNGER)  [chap. 

San  Marco  which  resulted  in  Savonarola's  imprison- 
ment and  death.  These  two  brothers  are  there- 
fore flagrantly  associated  with  one  of  the  most 
disgraceful  episodes  in  Florentine  history ;  their 
conduct  being  all  the  more  to  be  condemned 
because  they  took  the  ignoble  part  of  instigators 
to  the  more  prominent  actors,  they  themselves 
keeping  to  a  large  extent  out  of  sight. 

Upon  his  brother  Giovanni's  death  in  1498 
Lorenzo  appropriated  the  latter's  estate  of  Castello 
(three  miles  from  Florence),  though  it  really 
belonged  to  the  child  of  a  few  months  old  whom 
his  brother  had  left.  He  pretended  to  hold  the 
property  as  the  representative  of  this  child,  but, 
in  view  of  the  serious  difficulties  with  the  Pope 
in  which  the  child's  mother,  Catherine  Sforza,  had 
become  involved,^  never  intended  to  surrender  it. 

Lorenzo's  whole  conduct  with  regard  to  his 
nephew  and  the  latter's  mother,  Catherine  Sforza, 
displayed  the  same  meanness  of  character  which 
he  had  shown  by  his  action  in  bringing  about  the 
banishment  of  the  elder  branch  of  his  family  in 
order  to  gratify  an  ignoble  jealousy,  and  by  his 
conduct  in  becoming  one  of  the  Pope's  tools  for 
the  destruction  of  Savonarola.  He  was,  however, 
eventually  punished.  When  his  sister-in-law  was 
unexpectedly  released  from  her  imprisonment  and 
came  to  settle  in  Florence,  Lorenzo,  much  to  his 
disgust,  had  to  surrender  to  her  the  custody 
of  her  son  and  the  villa  of  Castello.  He  had 
embezzled  a  large  part  of  the  boy's  inheritance, 
and  dreaded  this  being  discovered ;  and  the 
manoeuvres  he  adopted  to  prevent  it  showed  his 

1  Chap.  xxii.  pp.  203-207. 


xxi]         PIER    FRANCESCO   (THE   YOUNGER)       175 

character.^  The  lawsuit  which  followed  disclosed 
what  he  had  done;  and  the  shame  of  the  dis- 
covery, together  with  the  mortification  at  having 
failed  in  his  object,  brought  on  an  illness  which 
caused  his  death.  He  died  in  1507,  at  the  age 
of  forty-four. 

Unlike  his  brother  Giovanni,  Lorenzo  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  to  any  great  extent  a 
patron  of  art.  It  is  said  that  Botticelli's  drawings 
illustrating  Dante's  Divine  Comedy  were  executed 
for  him ;  and  Vasari  says  that  one  of  Michel- 
angelo's early  works,  '*  a  little  St  John,"  was 
made  for  him.  He  is,  however,  remarkable  as 
being  the  only  male  member  of  both  branches  of 
the  Medici  family  of  whom  no  portrait  appears 
ever  to  have  been  painted  ;  and  this  could  scarcely 
have  been  the  case  had  he  been  even  to  a  moderate 
degree  a  patron  of  art.  He  married  Semiramide 
d'Appiano,  and  left  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Lorenzo's  eldest  son.  Pier  Francesco  pier  Francesco 
the  Younger,  was  a  man  of  even  less  note  *^®  Younger. 
than  his  father.  Almost  the  only  thing  recorded 
of  him  is  his  active  co-operation  with  his  father  in 
the  attempt  to  rob  the  boy  Giovanni,  the  son 
of  Giovanni  "  Popolano  "  and  Catherine  Sforza,  of 
his  inheritance.  Pier  Francesco  took  much  interest 
in  the  minor  arts,  especially  in  pottery.  From 
his  father  he  inherited  the  estate  of  Cafaggiolo, 
and  there  he  founded  the  Cafaggiolo  manufactory 
which  soon  became  famous,  the  Cafaggiolo-ware 
being  considered  to  surpass  even  that  of  Faenza. 

1  Chap.  xxii.  pp.  210-211. 


176 


LORENZO   (THE   YOUNGER)       [chap  xxt. 


He  married  Maria  Soderini,  and  was  the  father 
of  Lorenzino,^  Maddalena,  and  Laudomia.^  Pier 
Francesco  died  while  his  son  Lorenzino  was  still 
a  boy. 


Plate  of  Cafaggiolo-ware  supposed  to  represent  Pier  Francesco  and 
his  wife  Maria  Soderini,  and  to  have  been  a  wedding  gift  to  them  on 
their  marriage  in  1511  from  the  manufactory  which  Pier  Francesco 
had  founded. 


'-  Born  in  1515. 

^'  Vol.  i.  pp.  506-507. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

GIOVANNI   "POPOLANO  "   AND   CATHERINE 
SFORZA 

GIOVANNI 

Bom  1467.     Died  1498. 

Giovanni,^  the  second  son  of  Pier  Francesco  the 
Elder,  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  handsomest 
and  most  accomphshed  of  the  Florentines  of  his 
day.  He  was  eleven  years  old  at  the  time  of 
the  Pazzi  Conspiracy,  and  all  his  youth  was  passed 
in  the  midst  of  the  splendour  of  the  rule  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  and  when  he  was  nineteen  he  was 
engaged  to  the  latter's  daughter  Maria,  who,  how- 
ever, died  before  the  marriage  took  place.  When 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  died  in  1492  Giovanni 
was  twenty-five ;  and  in  the  following  year  we 
find  him  visiting  the  court  of  Mantua  in  great 
style  at  the  baptism  of  Isabella  d'Este's  daughter. 
After  the  leading  part  which  he  and  his  brother 
Lorenzo  took  in  the  banishment  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the  family,  Giovanni  took  service  with  the  King 
of  France,  and  was  given  by  Charles  VIII.  a  post 
with  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  crowns ; 
but  this  did  not  last  long,  as  in  1496  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Florentine  Republic  as  their 
ambassador  to  Catlierine  Sforza,  the  masterful 
Countess  of  Forh. 

1  Plate  XLIV. 
VOL.    II.  177  M 


178  GIOVANNI  [chap. 

At  Forli  Giovanni  soon  made  himself  highly 
popular,  and  after  a  short  time  the  Countess  of 
Forli  (whose  political  position  made  it  almost 
imperative  that  she  should  marry  again)  showed 
so  much  admiration  for  her  handsome  and  accom- 
plished Florentine  envoy  that  some  began  to  say 
that  she  intended  to  marry  him.  Nevertheless  it 
was  thought  by  most  to  be  very  unlikely  that 
so  great  a  personage  would  marry  one  so  much 
beneath  her  in  rank,  and  only  a  simple  citizen.  It 
was  true  that  under  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  the 
family  had  attained  a  great  position,  but  with  his 
death  and  the  exile  of  the  elder  branch  of  the 
Medici  all  their  importance  had  passed  away.  The 
future  Pope  Leo  X.  was  at  that  time  merely  a 
wandering  member  of  a  banished  family,  and  all 
the  subsequent  developments  of  that  family  were 
undreamt  of.  However,  eventually  Giovanni's 
various  attractions  prevailed,  and  in  1497,  to  the 
disgust  of  both  Milan  and  Venice,  Catherine  Sforza, 
Countess  of  Forh  and  Imola,  married  Giovanni 
de'  Medici,  called  in  Florence  Giovanni "  Popolano." 
He  was  then  thirty,  and  she  thirty-five.  It  was 
by  far  the  most  exalted  marriage  which  any 
member  of  the  Medici  family  had  up  to  that  time 
made.* 

Giovanni  had  much  fondness  for  art,  and  being 
both  accomplished  and  wealthy  was  able  to  gratify 
his  artistic  tastes  to  the  utmost.  The  sack  of  the 
Medici  Palace  in  1494  had  filled  Florence  with  art 
treasures^  which  those  who  had  plundered  them 

1  The  marriage  of  Giuliauo  (Due  de  Nemours)  to  the  aunt  of  the 
Kiug  of  France  did  not  take  place  until  eighteen  years  later. 

2  Vol.  i.  pp.  320-321. 


PLATE   XLIV. 


A/u,nri] 


(;l(i\A\\l,    s(i\    ui-    iMlJt    ll{A\ri;s(  () 
Hv  \a.sai-i. 


lI'ala::o  Ved-hio,  Florencr, 


XXII.]  FONDNESS   FOR    ART  179 

were  anxious  to  sell ;  and  Giovanni  was  able  by 
this  means  to  adorn  his  villa  of  Castello  with  many 
of  the  treasures  of  art  which  had  belonged  to  the 
elder  branch.  Among  other  artists  he  patronised 
in  particular  Botticelli  and  Filippino  Lippi.  We 
have  seen  how  in  1496  the  latter  painted  for 
him  one  of  his  finest  pictures,  his  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  And  the 
anonymous  writer  who  is  quoted  by  the  "  Anonimo 
Gaddiano"  tells  us  that  Botticelli  painted  for 
Giovanni  in  his  villa  of  Castello  various  beautiful 
pictures.  We  do  not  know  what  these  were,  but 
the  language  used  by  the  writer  in  question  seems 
to  imply  that  they  were  frescoes.^ 

Giovanni  only  survived  his  marriage  a  little 
more  than  a  year.  In  1498  he  accompanied  his 
stepson,  Ottaviano  Riario,  to  Pisa  as  his  guardian 
and  guide  in  commanding  a  body  of  troops ;  he 
got  ill  at  Pisa,  and,  becoming  no  better,  proceeded 
to  the  baths  of  San  Pietro  in  Bagno ;  there  he 
grew  worse,  and  died  on  the  14th  September  1498, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  his  wife,  Catherine,  only 
arriving  a  few  hours  before  he  died.  Their  only 
child  was  a  boy,  born  five  months  before  his 
father's  death,  afterwards  the  celebrated  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere. 

^  See  Appendix  VIL 


180  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

CATHERINE   SFORZA 

(I.   GiROLAMO    RiARIO,  1477'\ 

II.  GiAcoMO  Feo,  1489  J-      Dierf  1609. 

III.  Giovanni  de'  Medici,  1497  ) 

Catherine  Sforza,  who  was  the  ancestress  of 
all  the  Medici  who  follow,  was  regarded  by  those 
of  her  own  time  as  a  sort  of  wonder  of  her  age, 
a  woman  of  almost  superhuman  ability,  courage, 
and  resolution.  Her  history  before  she  married 
into  the  Medici  family  is  valuable,  as,  since  her 
first  marriage  was  into  the  family  who  were  their 
greatest  enemies,  it  throws  a  sidelight  upon  the 
story  of  the  Medici  during  the  time  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  Pietro  the  Unfortunate,  and  the 
"  Interregnum." 

The  Sforza  were  not,  like  their  contemporaries 
the  Este  of  Ferrara,  of  long  and  noble  descent. 
Catherine's  great  -  grandfather,  Muzio  Attendolo, 
who  was  given  the  name  of  "  Sforza,"  had  been 
a  private  soldier,  the  son  of  a  peasant,  but  had 
raised  himself  to  be  a  renowned  commander, 
and  married  the  widow  of  the  King  of  Naples. 
His  son,  Francesco  Sforza,  had  been  a  similarly 
renowned  condottiei'e  leader,  who  in  1441  had 
married  Bianca  Maria  Visconti,  and  in  1450,  by 
the  help  of  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  had  become 
Duke  of  Milan.^  His  eldest  son,  Galeazzo  Sforza, 
Catherine's  father,^  had  succeeded  him  in  1466, 
and  two  years  later  had  married  the  good  Bona 
of  Savoy,  called  "the  Madonna  of  Italy,"  and  a 
very  different  character  from  her  sister,  Louise 
of  Savoy,  mother  of  Francis  I. 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  98.  2  sjje  ^ag  au  illegitimate  daugliter. 


xxii.]  A   GIRL'S   EDUCATION  181 

Catherine  Sforza  was  brought  up  by  her  grand- 
mother, the  Duchess  Bianca  Maria  Visconti,  who 
in  all  the  early  struggles  of  her  husband,  Francesco 
Sforza,  was  not  only  a  most  capable  adviser  and 
helper  to  him,  and  even  on  occasion  a  brave  leader 
of  his  soldiers  in  battle,  but  also  was  adored  by 
the  people  as  a  saint  and  the  protector  of  the 
oppressed.  She  was  the  peacemaker  and  com- 
forter wherever  enmity,  wrongs,  or  misery  existed; 
and  it  was  under  her  that  Catherine  was  first 
shown  what  governing  ought  to  be  like.  But  she 
died  in  1470,  after  which  Catherine  was  brought 
up  by  her  stepmother,  the  Duchess  Bona. 

Catherine,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of 
the  time,  had  a  most  elaborate  education.  We 
have  already  seen  ^  how  in  the  generation  immedi- 
ately preceding  hers  (in  the  time  of  Lucrezia 
Tornabuoni)  ladies  in  Italy  had  begun  to  come 
forth  from  the  seclusion  previously  customary, 
and  to  make  themselves  notable  by  their  attain- 
ments. And  in  Catlierine's  time  this  became  still 
more  pronounced.  The  ladies  of  that  age  were 
accomplished  to  an  extent  which  would  now  be 
thought  scarcely  possible.  They  were  expected 
to  be  proficient  in  classical  learning  and  Latin 
and  Greek  composition,  to  be  conversant  also 
with  the  current  literature  of  their  own  and  other 
countries,  to  have  a  knowledge  of  the  various 
branches  of  art  and  science,  to  be  as  accomplished 
in  music,  dancing,  and  the  playing  of  various 
instruments  as  their  brothers  were  in  the  use  of 
arms,  and  be  able  to  ride  well  and  take  part  in 
field    sports.       Cecilia    Gonzaga,    Ippolita    Sforza, 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  187. 


182  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [c^ap. 

(Catlierine's  aunt),^  and  Catherine  herself,  with,  a 
few  years  later,  Isabella  d'Este,  her  sister  Beatrice 
d'Este,  and  their  sister-in-law,  Elisabetta  Gon- 
zaga,  all  furnish  examples  of  the  numerous  attain- 
ments and  wide  range  of  culture  of  the  ladies  of 
this  time.  We  read  of  Ippolita  Sforza,  at  about 
twelve  years  old,  dehghting  Pope  Pius  II.,  when 
he  visited  her  father's  court,  by  reciting  a  Latin 
oration  composed  by  herself;  of  Cecilia  Gonzaga 
reading  and  writing  both  Greek  and  Latin  at 
eight  years  old  ;  of  Catherine  herself,  at  the  age 
of  ten,  reciting  Latin  verses  of  her  own  composi- 
tion to  welcome  Cardinal  Riario  to  her  father's 
court;  of  Elisabetta  Gonzaga  singing  Virgil's 
poems  and  accompanying  herself  on  the  lute ;  and 
of  Isabella  d'Este  reading  Virgil  and  Cicero  when 
quite  a  young  girl,  and  continuing  her  classical 
studies  even  when  Marchioness  of  Mantua. 
While  at  the  same  time  we  read  of  these  ladies 
dancing  all  night  at  balls,  taking  part  in  elaborate 
theatrical  performances,  and  engaging  in  stag-hunts 
and  boar-hunts  in  which  they  at  times  experienced 
serious  accidents.  The  age  was  one  in  which  "  it 
was  considered  that  classical  learning  was  the  chief 
ornament  either  to  man  or  woman,  and  that  it 
added  a  special  charm  to  the  latter " ;  and  no 
difference  was  therefore  made  in  the  education  of 
girls  and  boys  in  this  particular.  Castiglione,  in 
summing  up  his  ideas  of  the  perfect  lady,  after 
saying  "all  inspiration  comes  from  women,"  adds 
that  it  rests  with  her  to  inspire  men  with  hope 
and   courage    on    the    battlefield,   in   the   council 

^  At  whose  marriage  to  the  Duke  of  Calabria  in   Milan  in   1465 
Lorenzo  the  Magnilicent,  then  sixteen,  was  present. 


xxii]  THE   LADIES   OF  THAT   AGE  183 

chamber,  in  the  pursuit  of  Art  and  I^earning, 
and  in  the  paths  of  virtue  and  rehgion.  And 
these  ladies  grew  up  to  be  renowned  for  the 
powerful  influence  which  they  exercised  on  the 
life  of  their  age,  an  influence  due  entirely  to  the 
high  standard  of  education  which  they  had  received. 
Mrs  Ady  says  : — 

"By  their  intellectual  attainments,  their  delicate 
culture,  and  their  refined  taste,  these  noble  women 
of  the  Renaissance  brought  Art  into  close  touch 
with  life ;  and  by  their  gracious  and  kindly 
sympathy  and  knowledge  they  cheered  on  the 
artist  souls  that  were  struggling  towards  the 
light,  and  helped  to  produce  immortal  works. 
Will  posterity,  we  wonder,  say  as  much  for  the 
ladies  of  our  own  age  ? "  ^ 

But  in  Catherine  Sforza's  life  of  activity  and 
stress  these  matters  could  only  be  pursued  occa- 
sionally, having  perforce  during  long  periods  to 
be  put  aside,  and  she  had  more  often  to  exercise 
her  power  of  ruling  men  and  her  courage  and  skill 
in  war,  than  her  ability  to  compose  Latin  verses, 
to  encourage  Art,  and  to  enjoy  the  conversation 
of  learned  men. 

In  1471,  when  Catherine  was  nine  years  old, 
her  father,  Duke  Galeazzo  Sforza,  paid  that  visit 
to  Florence  which  has  previously  been  mentioned,- 
and  took  with  him  his  wife,  Bona  of  Savoy, 
and  his  daughters,  Anna  and  Catherine,  when 
the  latter  for  the  first  time  met  that  Medici 
family  into  which  she  was  long  afterwards  to 
marry.  They  stayed  with  Lorenzo  and  his  brother 
Giuliano  and  their  mother,  Lucrezia  Tornabuoni, 

'  The  Ladies  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  by  Mrs  Adv. 
2  Vol.  i.  p.  217. 


184  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

at  the  Medici  Palace ;  and  while  they  were  amazed 
at  the  art  collections  they  saw  gathered  there,  it 
is  evident  that  the  nine-year-old  girl  looked  with 
a  sort  of  hero-worship  upon  the  twenty-two-year- 
old  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent ;  for  during  all  the 
rest  of  her  life,  though  she  never  saw  him  again, 
she  always  held  him  in  the  greatest  admiration. 
Although  six  years  later  she  became  a  member 
of  a  family  who  hated  the  Medici  with  a  deadly 
hatred,  nothing  ever  obliterated  from  her  mind 
the  memory  of  this  visit,  and  she  all  her  life  felt 
a  strong  attraction  for  the  Medici  and  Florence. 
In  1476  her  father,  Duke  Galeazzo,  was 
murdered,  and  the  Duchess  Bona  assumed  the  rule 
of  Milan  on  behalf  of  her  six-year-old  son,  Gian 
Galeazzo.  Catherine  had  by  this  time  been  be- 
trothed by  her  father  to  Girolamo  Riario,  nephew 
of  Pope  Sixtus  IV.,  and  it  was  feared  that  the 
death  of  the  Duke  might  cause  this  engagement  to 
be  broken  off.  How^ever,  it  did  not  do  so,  and  in 
April  1477,  when  she  was  fifteen,^  she  was  married 
by  proxy  at  Milan,  the  small  state  of  Imola,  in 
Romagna,  being  given  her  as  a  dowry.  She 
journeyed  to  Rome  in  much  magnificence ;  and 
at  Parma,  Reggio,  INIodena,  and  Bologna,  as  well 
as  at  Imola  and  every  halting  place  in  the  Papal 
states,  was  received  with  great  ovations  and 
festivities.  She  writes  to  her  sister  Chiara  describ- 
ing these  receptions,  and  how  "they  never  cease 
feasting  me."     In  these  letters  she  signs  herself 

*  In  those  days  fifteen  was  the  fashionable  age  for  a  girl  to  be 
married.  Speaking  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Professor  Del  Lungo 
says  : — "  It  came  to  be  considered  late  if  a  girl  married  at  twenty,  or 
even  at  eighteen;  fifteen  was  the  'age  of  beauty.'" — {Women  of 
Florence,  by  Isidore  del  Lungo.) 


XXII.]  HER   FIRST   MARRIAGE  185 

"  Cateriiia  Vicecomes,"  showing  that  the  Sforza 
carried  on  the  name  of  the  Visconti.  After 
travelHng  in  this  way  for  over  a  month  she 
reached  Rome.  Seven  miles  from  the  city  she 
was  met  by  her  future  husband,  Girolamo  Riario, 
"that  ex-custom-house  clerk  who  never  became 
a  gentleman,"  with  a  very  magnificent  retinue ; 
and  as  they  proceeded  tow^ards  the  city  they  were 
joined  by  cardinals,  prelates,  and  dignitaries  of 
all  sorts,  and  at  last  at  the  Ponte  INlolle  by  the 
Papal  court  and  the  ambassadors  of  Spain  and 
Naples.  Thus  attended,  Catherine  made  her  first 
entry  into  Rome.  We  are  told  that  when  as  a 
bride  of  fifteen  she  rode  in  through  the  Porta  del 
Popolo  in  the  midst  of  this  brilliant  assemblage 
her  fine  appearance  created  a  great  sensation.  Her 
dress  was  "a  cloak  of  black  damask  brocaded 
with  gold,  a  skirt  of  crimson  satin,  and  sleeves  of 
black  brocade " ;  and  she  is  described  as  "  of  a 
fine  figure,  having  a  face  to  be  admired  rather  than 
loved,  the  features  of  beautiful  outline,  the  face 
hard  and  even  stern,  but  full  of  vigour  and  intelli- 
gence." They  rode  through  the  narrow  streets 
to  the  ancient  basilica  of  St  Peter's  (which  thirty 
years  later  was  to  be  demolished  by  Julius  II.), 
and  there  the  marriage  ceremony  was  again  per- 
formed by  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  himself;  after  which 
the  bride  and  bridegroom  were  escorted,  amidst 
burning  perfumes  and  festoons  of  flowers,  to  their 
palace  (that  now  known  as  the  Corsini  palace)  on 
the  Lungara,  in  Trastevere.  Then  followed  an 
immense  banquet  to  about  two  hundred  people 
with  every  kind  of  extravagant  magnificence,  which 
lasted  for  five  hours. 


186  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

The  family  into  which  Catherine  had  married 
was  not  an  agreeable  one.  Sixtus  IV.  was  the 
son  of  a  fisherman  on  the  coast  near  Ancona,  and 
the  whole  family  were  exceedingly  vulgar,  and 
were  hated  by  the  Colonna,  the  Orsini,  and  the  rest 
of  the  ancient  Roman  nobility.  Girolamo  Riario 
was  the  worst  of  the  Pope's  nephews,  but  had 
been  made  by  Sixtus  IV.  Captain  General  of  the 
Papal  forces  and  the  richest  prince  in  Rome. 
He  was  vulgar,  uncultured,  violent,  and  arrogant, 
was  loathed  by  the  people  for  his  crimes,  and 
being  an  arrant  coward,  never  trusted  himself  in 
the  streets  except  when  surrounded  by  a  band  of 
his  villainous  retainers,  and  Catherine,  descended 
from  a  race  of  soldiers,  can  only  have  looked  on 
him  with  contempt.  However,  her  life  was  not 
without  compensations  ;  Pope  Sixtus  IV.,  brutal 
and  vulgar  tyrant  as  he  was  to  others,  behaved 
well  towards  her,  and  in  a  very  short  time  she 
became  so  great  a  favourite  with  him  that  she 
wielded  an  immense  influence.  Few  in  that  age, 
placed  in  such  a  position,  would  have  borne  the 
moral  degradation  of  such  a  court  as  that  of 
Sixtus  IV.  without  being  contaminated,  but  it  is 
acknowledged  that  Catherine  did  so,  and  that 
personal  and  family  pride  kept  her  from  being 
corrupted. 

Amidst  these  surroundings  Catherine  lived  for 
seven  years,  the  first  four  of  them  the  most 
prosperous  and  brilUant  of  her  life.  During  these 
seven  years  she  saw  an  immense  change  wrought 
in  Rome,  which  when  she  arrived  was  mean  and 
half  ruined  in  appearance,  but  which  was  trans- 
formed   by    Sixtus    IV.    into    a    fine    city.      He 


XXII.]  TRANSFORMATION   OF   ROME  187 

organised  a  department  for  public  works,  pulled 
down  houses  and  widened  the  streets,  and  built 
the  Sixtine  chapel,  various  important  churches, 
and  many  other  of  the  buildings  which  still  exist 
in  Rome.  In  connection  with  these  operations 
Catherine  saw  summoned  to  Rome  every  notable 
artist  of  the  time,  including  Botticelli,  Ghirlandajo, 
Perugino,  Mantegna,  Pinturicchio,  Filippino  Lippi, 
JVlelozzo  da  Forli,  Cosimo  Roselli,  and  Luca 
Signorelli.  At  the  same  time  Sixtus  IV.  founded 
the  Vatican  Library,  of  which  a  memorial  exists  in 
the  picture^  by  Melozzo  da  Forh  of  the  Pope 
surrounded  by  his  nephews  giving  to  the  librarian 
Platina  the  foundation  statutes  of  the  library. 
Catherine  took  part  in  these  activities,  while  we 
are  told  that  she  did  a  great  deal  of  reading,  and 
delighted  in  the  society  of  the  numerous  cultured 
and  learned  men  then  gathered  in  Rome. 

The  year  after  Catherine's  marriage  there  took 
place  (1478)  the  celebrated  Pazzi  conspiracy,  headed 
by  Sixtus  IV.  and  her  husband,  Girolamo.-  After 
the  failure  of  that  conspiracy  Girolamo  sent  an 
emissary  to  Florence  to  poison  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent ;  but  this  attempt  also  failed.  Again 
Girolamo  planned  with  certain  Florentines  to 
assassinate  Lorenzo,  and  the  day  was  appointed ; 
but  again  the  plot  was  discovered,  and  all  the  con- 
spirators were  executed.^    Historians  are  unanimous 

^  A  fresco  transferred  to  canvas. 

2   Vol.  i.  pp.  229-242. 

^  The  second  of  these  attempts  was  the  more  disgraceful  in  that 
it  was  made  in  May  1481,  notwithstanding  that  peace  had  been  made 
by  tlie  Pope  in  the  previous  year  (vol.  i.  p.  253).  It  was  a  plot 
to  assassinate  Lorenzo  in  tlie  church  of  the  (Jarmine,  which  Girolamo 
Riario  got  Battista  Frescobaldi  to  engage  to  do.  On  the  discovery  of 
the  plot  Frescobaldi  and  all  liis  fellow-conspirators  were  hanged  from 
the  windows  of  the  Bargello. 


188  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap 

that  Catherine  had  no  part  in  any  of  these  plots, 
nor  was  told  of  them. 

In  1478  the  first  of  Catherine's  children  was 
born,  a  daughter,  whom  she  named  Bianca  after 
her  beloved  grandmother.  In  the  following  year 
her  eldest  son  was  born,  and  was  given  the  name 
of  Ottaviano.  During  the  next  two  years  another 
son  and  a  daughter  were  born. 

In  1480  a  quarrel  between  the  two  branches  of 
the  Ordelaffi  family  at  Forli,  the  adjacent  state  to 
Catherine's  little  domain  of  Imola,  was  seized  upon 
by  Sixtus  IV.  as  a  pretext  for  ejecting  the  Ordelaffi 
from  their  territory  (over  which  they  had  ruled 
with  honour  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years),  and 
giving  it  to  Girolamo  Riario.  This  junction  of 
Forli  with  Imola  made  a  state  of  some  political 
importance,  especially  as  one  of  the  two  main 
roads  from  the  north  of  Italy  to  Rome  and  Naples 
ran  through  it. 

In  June  1481  Girolamo  and  Catherine  left 
Rome  to  pay  a  visit  to  their  new  state,  accom- 
panied by  an  enormous  train  of  mules  and  carts 
laden  with  all  the  wealth  which  Girolamo  had 
been  able  to  plunder,  and  which  he  thought,  as 
the  Pope  was  growing  old,  it  was  advisable  to 
remove  from  Rome.  For  many  days  this  great 
baggage  train  crowded  the  long  rough  road  from 
Rome  by  way  of  Orte,  Terni,  and  Spoleto  into 
Umbria,  and  thence  over  the  passes  of  the 
Apennines  and  through  Ancona,  Pesaro,  and 
Rimini  to  Forli.  The  entry  of  Girolamo  and 
Catherine  into  Forli  was  a  very  grand  afiair,  with 
triumphal  arches,  the  streets  hung  with  tapestries, 
companies    of    white -clad   youths    bearing   palm 


XXII.]  VISIT  TO   FORLi  189 

branches,  a  triumphal  car  full  of  children  who 
sang  Latin  verses,  bands  of  music,  and  the  clang- 
ing of  innumerable  bells.  Catherine  rode  on  a 
white  horse  whose  trappings  of  cloth  of  silver  were 
embroidered  with  pearls ;  and  over  the  heads  of 
the  pair  a  party  of  young  nobles  in  white  and  gold 
carried  a  canopy  for  a  mile  before  the  town  was 
reached.  Then  followed  the  usual  feasting,  and 
in  the  evening  a  ball,  at  which  Catherine  was 
much  admired  for  her  magnificent  appearance  in 
a  dress  covered  with  jewels,  and  a  veil  with  the 
device,  worked  in  silver  and  pearls,  of  a  rising  sun 
piercing  the  clouds. 

In  September  they  visited  Venice,  ostensibly 
for  pleasure,  but  also  with  a  political  object.  In 
the  war  of  1478  - 1480  between  Florence  and 
Sixtus  IV.,  Duke  Ercole  d'Este  of  Ferrara  had 
sided  with  Florence,  and  the  Pope  now  wished 
to  retaliate,  and  to  obtain  the  help  of  Venice  to 
enable  him  to  treat  the  house  of  Este  as  he  had 
the  Ordelaffi,  and  take  Ferrara  for  the  ever-hungry 
Girolamo.  They  were  greeted  at  Venice  with  a 
splendid  reception ;  but  the  Venetians  saw  no 
reason  why  they  should  assist  the  Pope  to  take 
Ferrara  for  Girolamo  ;  so,  while  they  overwhelmed 
him  and  Catherine  with  honours  and  deliirhted 
them  with  gorgeous  pageants,  they  sent  them 
away  without  having  effected  anything ;  and  Giro- 
lamo and  Catherine  (avoiding  Ferrara)  returned  to 
Forh,  and  from  thence  to  Rome. 

Catherine's  portrait '  by  Palmezzano  (with  the 
castle  of  Forh  in  the  background),  shows  her  as 
she  was  at  this  time,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and 

Plate  XLV. 


190  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

before  she  had  yet  demonstrated  those  extra- 
ordinary powers  of  courage  and  resolution  which 
she  possessed. 

After  their  return  to  Rome  Girolamo's  enor- 
mities increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
became  more  detested  than  ever.  At  length,  in 
the  beginning  of  1484,  he  instigated  the  Pope, 
with  the  help  of  the  Orsini,  to  attack  the  Colonna, 
whose  possessions  he  coveted.  The  Papal  troops 
sacked  the  whole  quarter  in  which  stood  the 
palaces  of  the  Colonna ;  whereupon  Girolamo  per- 
petrated one  of  his  most  odious  crimes.  In  order 
to  save  the  life  of  the  head  of  the  family,  the 
highly  respected  Lorenzo  Colonna,  who  had  fallen 
into  the  Pope's  hands,  Colonna's  mother  agreed 
conditionally  to  give  up  part  of  their  estates. 
Nevertheless  Girolamo,  falsifying  the  Pope's  most 
solemn  word,  basely  took  the  life  of  Lorenzo 
Colonna,  who  was  atrociously  tortured  to  death 
in  the  castle  of  St  Angelo  on  the  30th  June 
1484.  Catherine  shuddered  at  these  crimes 
of  her  husband,  and  held  herself  as  much  as 
possible  aloof  from  him,  occupying  herself  with 
the  care  of  her  children,  and  removing  herself  and 
them  for  a  time  to  Frascati.  Her  husband's  base- 
ness filled  her  with  disgust ;  but  when  once  or 
twice  she  reproached  him  for  the  vilencss  of  his 
crimes,  he  vented  his  wrath  upon  her  with  such 
violent  brutality  that  after  his  death  she  told  the 
Milanese  envoy  that  she  "  had  often  envied  those 
who  died." 

In  the  midst  of  these  disturbances  Pope  Sixtus 
suddenly  died,  on  the  12th  August  1484.  Anarchy 
at  once  ensued  in  Rome,  and  the  Riario  palace 
(which  Catherine  had  furnished  with  great  magni- 


PLATE  XLV. 


.!  /iiKiri] 


(  atiii:him:  sidiizA.   af  tiik  A(;k  oi'  tukntv. 
]iy  l*alim'z/;iiH». 


[Forll  GalUrij. 


XXII.]  BOLD   ACTION  191 

ficence)  was  attacked  by  the  mob,  and  sacked. 
Girolamo  was  absent  with  his  troops  at  Paliano, 
and  Catherine  and  her  children  were  with  him. 
He  advanced  with  his  force  as  far  as  the  Ponte 
Molle,  while  Catherine  boldly  went  on  and  entered 
the  castle  of  St  Angelo,  which  she  declared 
she  should  hold  for  Count  Girolamo.  She  was 
now  twenty-two,  and  here  gave  the  first  sign  of 
that  military  spirit  and  indomitable  will  which 
was  afterwards  to  make  her  so  famous.  Rome 
was  like  a  city  given  up  to  be  sacked,  the 
mob  revelling  in  the  abeyance  of  all  authority. 
The  cardinals  sent  messenger  after  messenger  to 
Catherine  demanding  that  she  should  give  up 
the  castle ;  but  she  only  laughed  at  them,  being 
determined  to  hold  it  until  a  new  Pope  had  been 
elected  and  had  confirmed  her  husband  in  his 
estates.  They  tried  various  expedients,  but  with- 
out avail.  Catherine  holding  the  Pope's  castle 
was  mistress  of  the  situation,  and  the  cardinals 
were  afraid  even  to  assemble  for  the  conclave. 
At  length  they  put  such  pressure  upon  her 
husband  that,  betrayed  by  him,  she  had  to  yield  ; 
whereupon  she  marched  out  with  the  honours  of 
war,  and  she  and  Girolamo  departed  for  Forli, 
where  two  months  later  Catherine's  third  son  was 
born. 

Forli  during  the  next  three  years  was  by  no 
means  a  bed  of  roses  for  Catherine.  The  people 
loved  the  Ordelaffi,  and  Girolamo  Riario's  char- 
acter would  have  made  him  detested  anywhere. 
So  that  there  were  frequent  insurrections,  both 
at  Forli  and  Imola,  and  either  Girolamo  or  his 
Countess  had  constantly  at  short  notice  to  hurry 


192  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

from  the  one  place  to  the  other  to  quell  these 
disturbances.  In  these  labours  of  a  difficult 
government  Catherine  took  her  full  share,  and  it 
was  only  by  her  able  assistance  that  Gkolamo  was 
able  to  preserve  his  position.  On  one  occasion, 
in  August  1487,  when  they  were  at  Imola,  her 
husband  being  ill,  and  only  a  few  days  before 
the  birth  of  Catherine's  fifth  son,^  urgent  news 
came  late  in  the  evening  that  an  insurrection  had 
occurred  at  Forli,  and  that  one  of  the  rebels, 
Codronchi,  had  murdered  the  castellane  and  seized 
the  castle.  Catherine  forthwith  ordered  her  horse 
and  rode  the  sixteen  miles  to  Forli,  arriving  there  at 
midnight,  and  proceeding  to  the  gate  of  the  castle, 
which  dominated  the  town,  summoned  Codronchi 
to  surrender  it  to  her.  He  replied  insolently, 
promising  to  think  about  it  if  she  would  return 
in  the  morning  to  breakfast.  Catherine,  sitting 
on  her  horse  at  midnight  before  the  closed  gates 
of  her  castle,  was  obliged  to  give  in  for  the  time, 
and  retired  to  her  palace  in  the  town,  but  laid 
her  plans  for  the  next  day.  In  the  morning  she 
presented  herself  again  at  the  castle  gate.  She 
was  told  that  only  she  herself,  with  one  attendant 
"  to  carry  her  breakfast,"  would  be  admitted. 
Catherine,  against  the  strong  advice  of  her 
counsellors,  accepted  the  terms  offered,  and  taking 
with  her  Tommaso  Feo,  whom  she  knew  she 
could  trust,  passed  in.  What  transpired  inside 
none  know,  but  she  brought  such  power  to  bear 
upon  the  rebellious  Codronchi  that  after  a  few 
hours  he  delivered  up  the  castle  to  her ;  where- 
upon   she    placed    Tommaso    Feo    in   command, 

^  A  fourth  son  had  been  born  in  December  1485. 


XXII.]  INSURRECTION  OF  FORLI  193 

sallied  forth  accompanied  by  Codronchi,  and  rode 
away  back  to  Imola  taking  him  with  her,  and 
Forli  was  saved.  On  the  day  after  her  return  to 
Imola  her  fifth  son,  whom  she  named  Francesco 
Sforza,  was  born  (17th  August  1487). 

A  few  months  after  this,  in  April  1488, 
Girolamo  Riario  met  the  natural  end  of  his  many 
crimes,  being  assassinated  in  the  palace  at  Forli 
in  an  insurrection  headed  by  the  Orsi  family. 
Catherine,  with  her  six  children  and  her  sister 
Stella,  were  seized  by  the  conspirators  in  another 
room,  but  not  before  she  had  contrived  to  send 
off  a  messenger  to  her  half-brother,  the  Duke  of 
JNIilan,  with  an  urgent  appeal  to  him  to  send 
troops  to  her  assistance.  She  and  her  children 
were  ignominiously  marched  through  the  crowded 
streets  and  locked  up  in  the  Orsi  palace ;  thence 
they  were  removed  in  the  evening  to  the  fortress 
of  San  Pietro,  where  Catherine,  her  six  children 
(the  two  youngest  in  the  arms  of  their  nurses), 
her  sister,  and  two  other  attendants  were  all 
confined  in  one  small  room,  and  underwent  much 
distress  and  terror,  Catherine  being  the  only  one 
of  the  party  who  kept  her  head.  The  conspirators 
ordered  Feo  to  give  up  the  castle,  but  he  refused ; 
and  next  day  by  a  ruse  Catherine,  leaving  her 
children  in  the  enemy's  hands,  escaped  to  the 
castle.  They  threatened  to  kill  her  children  if 
she  did  not  surrender,  but  she  dared  them  to  do 
it,  and  threatened  them  with  the  vengeance  of 
the  Duke  of  Milan,  while  the  castle  bombarded 
the  town  day  and  night.  At  length,  after  the 
castle  had  been  besieged  for  a  fortnight,  troops 
came  to  her  assistance  from  Milan ;  whereupon 
Vol.  II.  •  j^ 


194  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap. 

the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  fled,  the  town  made  a 
humble  submission,  and  Catherine  had  conquered. 
We  see  her  in  this  hour  of  her  victory  as  she  is 
described  by  Cerretani : — 

"  Wise,  brave,  great,  speaking  little,  with  a 
full,  beautiful  face ;  wearing  a  tan  satin  gown  with 
two  ells  of  train,  a  large  black  velvet  hat  in  the 
French  mode,  and  a  man's  belt  whence  hung  a 
bag  of  gold  ducats  and  a  curved  sword.  And 
among  the  soldiers,  both  horse  and  foot,  she  was 
much  feared  ;  for  that  armed  lady  was  both  fierce 
and  cruel." 

Those  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  rebellion  who 
were  caught  were  executed  ;  the  palace  of  the  Orsi 
was  demolished,  and  all  the  men  of  that  family  who 
had  not  fled  were  put  to  death  in  vengeance  for 
Girolamo's  murder ;  and  though  Catherine  did  not 
show  general  vindictiveness,  she  showed  herself 
hard  and  cruel,  not  only  punishing  the  guilty 
with  death,  but  consigning  to  dark  and  horrible 
dungeons  their  innocent  famihes.  On  the  other 
hand,  she  refused  to  allow  the  troops  from  Milan 
to  sack  the  city,  as  they  had  been  fully  confident 
of  doing,  or  even  to  enter  it ;  and  though  this 
almost  caused  a  mutiny  among  them,  Catherine 
was  resolute,  and  showed  no  less  courage  on  this 
point  than  she  had  in  confronting  the  rebellion. 
She  returned  to  her  palace  in  the  town  escorted 
only  by  a  small  picked  body  of  these  troops,  who, 
though  she  had  deprived  them  of  the  plunder  of 
the  city,  could  not  help  honouring  her  for  the  brave 
way  in  which  she  had  fought  her  battle.  "  And  on 
the  way,"  says  Bernardi,  "  many  of  our  women  em- 
braced her  feet,  for  a  woman  whose  first  exercise  of 


XXII.]  HER   SECOND   MARRIAGE  195 

power  was  for  the  protection  of  other  women  had 
not  till  then  been  seen."  Girolamo's  body  was 
buried  at  Imola,  Catherine  dechiring  that  she  would 
never  forgive  the  canons  of  the  cathedral  of 
Forli  for  having  refused  it  burial ;  and  during  the 
remaining  twelve  years  of  her  reign  she  never  for- 
gave them  or  entered  the  cathedral.  The  property 
of  the  Orsi  family  was,  however,  not  confiscated, 
Catherine  refusing  to  take  anything  of  theirs  ;  and 
she  liberated  after  a  short  time  the  women  of  that 
family  from  their  imprisonment. 

Catherine  was  now  twenty-six,  and  sovereign 
ruler  of  her  state,  her  eldest  son,  Octavian,  being 
still  a  child.^  In  the  following  year  (1489)  she 
married  Giacomo  Feo,  the  younger  brother  of  her 
faithful  castellane,  Tommaso  Feo,  appointing  the 
latter  governor  of  Imola.  Giacomo  Feo  was,  we 
are  told,  "  a  fine  handsome  young  man,  courteous 
and  pleasant  to  all,  and  skilled  in  all  military 
exercises."  She  kept  the  government  of  her  state 
in  her  own  hands,  he  remaining  simply  the  com- 
mander of  her  army.  There  was  much  jealousy 
in  Forli  against  Giacomo  Feo  on  account  of  his 
elevation,  and,  though  he  did  his  best  to  allay 
it,  this  feeling  smouldered.  They  had  one  son, 
called  after  his  father,  Giacomo. 

In  1492  Catherine  heard  of  the  death  at 
Florence  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  Though  he 
had  been  opposed  tlu'ough  life  to  Girolamo  lliario 
in  consequence  of  the  Pazzi  conspiracy  and  the 
murder  of  his  brother  Ciiuliano,  and  so  had  placed 
Florence  always   in  political   opposition  to  Forh, 

'  On  lior  coins  at  this  time  she  rnll^  hpr^elf  "  C.itliariua   Sfortia 
Vicecomes,"  ignoring  the  lliario  connection  altogether. 


196  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap. 

yet  Catherine  had  never  lost  her  regard  for  him 
and  the  Medici  family ;  she  had  always  contrived 
to  maintain  a  sort  of  private  and  personal  friend- 
ship with  Florence  outside  the  arena  of  politics, 
and  much  regretted  Lorenzo's  death.  In  the  same 
year  Sixtus  IV, 's  successor,  Pope  Innocent  VIII., 
also  died,  and  Cardinal  Roderigo  Borgia  became 
Pope  Alexander  VI.,  in  whom  she  was  to  find  her 
bitterest  enemy. 

During  the  next  two  years  Catherine  was  in- 
volved in  a  web  of  difficult  policy.  Charles  VIII. 
was  about  to  invade  Italy,  and  Catherine's  whole 
abilities  were  called  forth  to  prevent  her  small 
state  from  being  ravaged  by  the  two  foes,  on  the 
one  side  the  French  with  Milan  (her  natural  ally), 
and  on  the  other  Florence,  with  Rome  and  Naples. 
She  trimmed  perpetually  between  the  two,  but 
at  length  declared  herself  on  the  side  of  the  latter 
party.  When,  however,  her  castle  of  INIordano 
was  attacked  and  taken  by  the  French  while  the 
troops  of  the  allies  made  no  attempt  to  give  her 
garrison  any  assistance,  she  renounced  the  side 
of  Florence,  Rome,  and  Naples,  and  took  that  of 
the  French  and  Milan.  Many  letters  still  extant 
passed  at  this  time  between  her  and  Pietro  the 
Unfortunate  on  the  subject  of  these  intricate 
politics.  In  1494  Charles  VIII.  in  his  march 
tlirough  Italy  sent  a  portion  of  his  troops  through 
her  state,  but  they  did  her  no  harm,  and  were 
eventually  recalled  by  Charles  to  meet  him  in 
Tuscany.  Shortly  afterwards  Catherine's  half- 
brother,  Gian  Galeazzo  Sforza,  died,  and  her  uncle, 
Ludovico  Sforza,  proclaimed  himself  Duke  of 
IMilan. 


XXII.  A   SFORZA'S   WRATH  197 

In  August  1495^  those  jealous  of  Giacomo 
Feo's  advancement  laid  plans  to  murder  him. 
Catherine,  her  husband,  and  her  band  of  young 
sons  were  returning  joyously  from  a  hunting 
party,  when  at  the  Bogheri  bridge  Giacomo  Feo, 
who  was  riding  a  little  behind,  was  suddenly  set 
upon  by  a  party  of  conspirators,  and  stabbed  to 
death.  Catherine  escaped  to  the  castle  and  took 
a  terrible  vengeance.  When  her  first  husband — 
a  man  to  whom  she  had  been  married  as  a 
matter  of  policy,  and  whom  she  loathed— was 
murdered  she  merely  punished  with  a  stern,  hard 
justice.  But  her  second  husband  was  the  man 
of  her  own  choice,  the  first  love  of  this  vehement, 
strong-willed  woman,  whose  great-grandfather 
had  been  given  the  name  of  "  Sforza  "  on  account 
of  his  violence  and  impetuosity,  characteristics 
prominent  in  all  the  Sforza.  Hence  we  now  have 
a  woman  raging  with  tiger-like  fury  for  the  murder 
of  her  love,  her  terrible  Sforza  nature  blazing  up 
in  all  its  awful  madness  of  blind  and  passionate 
ferocity.  The  guilty,  the  families  of  the  guilty 
(including  women,  girls,  and  even  children),  all  on 
whom  the  slightest  suspicion  fell,  were  involved 
in  a  general  destruction ;  and  there  followed 
indiscriminate  slaughtering,  hanging,  torturing, 
banishment,  and  ruin.  For  Giacomo  Feo's  murder 
more  than  one  hundred  persons,  men,  women,  and 
children,  suffered  various  degrees  of  misery,  over 
forty  of  them  being  put  to  death  in  most  cruel  ways. 

"  The   beautiful  Rosaria   Ghetti,  the   unhappy 

'  The  year  after  the  elder  branch  of  the  Medici  had  been  driven 
out  of  Florence,  and  that  period  had  begun  there  wliich  has  been 
called  the  "  interregnum  "  {.sec  chap.  xi.). 


198  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap. 

wife  of  the  principal  assassin  of  Feo,  was  dragged 
to  the  castle  of  FoiTi,  and  there  with  her  two 
little  children  thrown  down  a  spiked  well.  .  .  . 
The  dungeons  of  the  castle  were  turned  into 
abodes  of  lamentation  and  death ;  the  hall  where 
the  podesta  examined  prisoners  rang  with  the 
clank  of  instruments  of  torture  and  the  desperate 
cries  of  the  victims."^ 

Truly  the  Sforza  nature  was  a  terrible  one 
when  roused ;  the  same  qualities  which  produced 
such  indomitable  power  to  overcome  difficulties 
and  such  an  unquenchable  spirit  in  adversity, 
produced  in  the  hour  of  vengeance  results  at 
which  mankind  trembled.  Even  Catherine's  own 
son,  Octavian,  then  sixteen,  was  by  her  consigned 
to  prison  because  she  shrewdly  suspected  that  he 
had  had  a  share  in  the  crime  through  his  jealousy 
of  Feo,  even  if  he  had  not  instigated  it.  All  Italy 
shuddered  at  such  a  vengeance.  Pope  Alexander 
VI.,  though  tolerably  accustomed  to  terrible 
deeds,  ventured  on  a  remonstrance ;  but  Catherine 
turned  a  deaf  ear ;  until  her  wrath  had  destroyed 
every  one  and  everything  connected  with  the 
murder  of  Giacomo  Feo  she  would  listen  to 
nothing. 

At  length  the  fury  of  her  wrath  was  satisfied,  and 
she  turned  her  attention  to  other  matters.  Both 
famine  and  pestilence  were  at  this  time  causing 
great  suffering  to  her  people,  and  Catherine 
threw  herself  into  a  contest  with  these  evils 
with  a  fierce  energy  which  seemed  desirous  of 
obliterating  the  memory  of  her  bereavement 
by   tiie   most   arduous   labours,    buying   corn  and 

^  Life  of  Catherine  Sforza,  by  Couut  Pasolini. 


xxii]  HER  THIRD   MARRIAGE  199 

organising  famine  relief,  establishing  dispensaries 
and  hiring  doctors  from  other  states,  and  found- 
ing confraternities  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
other  charitable  purposes.  Politics  also  demanded 
all  her  abilities.  The  peaceful  times  of  Italy  had 
passed  away,  and  a  time  of  turmoil  had  succeeded 
in  which  her  petty  state  threatened  to  be  crushed 
between  more  powerful  neighbours.  She  was 
divided  between  her  desire  to  keep  in  friendship 
with  her  uncle's  state  of  Milan  and  her  ever- 
increasing  sympathy  with  Florence.  This  latter 
feeling  was  in  1496  strengthened  by  there  coming 
to  her  as  Florentine  envoy  Giovanni  de'  Medici, 
known  in  Florence  as  Giovanni  "  Popolano." 

Catherine  wanted  a  guardian  for  her  inert  and 
effeminate  son,  Octavian  ;  she  also  wanted  a  helper 
and  adviser  in  her  precarious  position  as  the  female 
ruler  of  a  state  which  every  power  round  her 
coveted  ;  and  she  saw  that  she  would  have  once 
again  to  contract  a  marriage  of  policy.  She  had 
always  felt  an  attraction  for  the  Medici  family, 
while  Giovanni  was  not  only  handsome  and  accom- 
plished, but  also  showed  much  political  ability. 
So  in  1497,  about  two  years  after  Giacomo  Feo's 
death,  she  married  her  Florentine  envoy,  keeping 
it  secret  as  long  as  she  could  for  fear  of  the  wrath 
of  her  uncle,  Ludovico,  Duke  of  JNlilan,  who  was 
constantly  urging  upon  her  to  have  nothing  to  do 
with  Florence.  When  at  last  he  plainly  taxed 
her  with  intending  such  a  marriage  {after  it  had 
already  taken  place),  she  denied  it  in  the  most 
barefaced  way,  saying  she  was  pained  that  her 
uncle  should  think  it  possible  she  would  ever 
take  a  husband   without  first  consulting  him,  or 


200  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [^hap. 

marry  one  of  whom  he  would  not  approve.  How- 
ever, eventually  she  had  to  acknowledge  it,  and 
then  managed  with  such  ability  to  show  the 
political  advantages  of  such  an  alliance  that  the 
Duke  of  Milan  gave  his  consent.^ 

Soon  afterwards  the  Pope  sent  her  a  proposal 
that  her  son  Octavian  should  be  married  to  his 
daughter,  Lucrezia  Borgia.  The  advantages  that 
would  be  hers  if  she  consented  were  plainly  placed 
before  her;  the  result  if  she  refused  would,  she 
knew,  sooner  or  later  be  war  brought  upon  her 
by  the  Pope.  Nevertheless,  her  whole  soul 
recoiled  from  the  idea  of  intermarriage  with  the 
Borgia  family,  with  whose  crimes  all  Italy  rang. 
She  therefore  refused  the  proposal,  and  to  keep 
her  son  out  of  the  way  sent  him  off  to  see  some- 
thing of  war.  She  dreaded  lest  he  should  grow 
up  with  the  sluggish  temperament  of  his  father 
Girolamo  (as  he  did) ;  so  she  despatched  him 
with  a  body  of  troops  to  help  Florence  in  its 
war  against  Venice  and  Pisa,  and  persuaded 
Giovanni  de'  Medici  to  go  with  him  to  instruct 
him  in  military  affairs.  These  troops  had  been 
trained  by  herself,  and  during  their  absence  at 
Pisa  she  continued  to  watch  over  their  manage- 
ment, writing  long  letters  containing  minute 
instructions  on  all  details  of  their  administration. 

In  April  1498  her  son  Ludovico  was  born  ; 
she  named  him  after  her  uncle,  the  Duke  of 
Milan,  to  conciliate  the  latter;  but  when  his 
father  died  five  months  later  she  changed  his 
name  to  Giovanni,  and  by  that  name  he  is  always 

^  From  this  time  she  calls  herself  ou  her  coins  "  Cathariua  Sfortia 
Medices." 


xxii]  A   THIRD  TIME   A  WIDOW  201 

known.  In  August^  her  husband,  Giovanni, 
became  ill  at  Pisa  and  returned  to  Forh,  and 
went  thence  to  the  baths  of  San  Pietro  in 
Bagno,  in  the  Apennines.  After  he  had  been 
there  a  few  days  she  received  an  urgent  summons 
from  him  saying  he  was  worse,  and  begging  her 
to  come  at  once.  She  rode  thither  from  Forh 
in  haste,  but  arrived  to  find  him  dying,  and  a 
few  hours  afterwards  he  breathed  his  last  in 
her  arms.  His  brotlier  Lorenzo  came,  and  con- 
veyed his  body  to  Florence  for  burial  there ;  and 
Catherine  returned  in  deepest  grief,  a  third  time 
a  widow,  to  her  desolate  palace  at  Forh. 

Dangers  now  surrounded  Catherine  Sforza  on 
every  side.  Through  her  alliance  with  Florence 
she  was  brought  into  collision  with  Venice  on 
the  north  and  the  Pope  on  the  south ;  while  the 
latter  was  bent  on  punishing  her  for  her  refusal 
of  his  matrimonial  project,  and  also  wanted  her 
state  for  his  son,  Caesar  Borgia.  Venice  demanded 
a  passage  through  her  territories  for  the  troops  it 
was  sending  against  Florence,  and  thought  she 
was  too  mucli  plunged  in  grief  to  refuse.  But 
war  made  Catherine  herself  again  directly,  and 
she  refused  the  demand  of  Venice ;  and  upon  the 
latter  sending  a  force  against  her  she  defeated  it. 
At  the  same  time  Lorenzo  the  Younger  (Lorenzo 
"  Popolano  "),  her  late  liusband's  brother,  demanded 
the  custody  of  her  child,  on  the  plea  that  she  must 
not  expose  him  to  the  dangers  which  threatened 
herself.  Catherine  replied  that  there  was  nothing 
which  she  could   refuse   to  the  house  of  Medici, 

^  Savonarola   had    been    put   to   death    iu   Florence   tliree   months 
before. 


202  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

except  lier  child ;  and  kept  possession  of  him. 
Meanwhile,  foreseeing  that  she  would  ere  long 
be  attacked,  she  devoted  her  whole  attention  to 
military  affairs.  Fortifying  passes,  repairing  her 
town  walls,  enlisting  fresh  troops,  providing  new 
arms  and  immense  supplies  of  ammunition,  drill- 
ing her  troops,  sitting  up  late  at  night  going 
through  the  accounts  that  she  might  provide 
funds  for  the  payment  of  her  soldiers,  regulating 
even  the  discipline  and  expenses  of  the  body  of 
troops  she  still  kept  at  Pisa  with  Octavian, 
arranging  for  "  all  the  mules  to  be  sent  here " — 
in  these  and  similar  activities  she  displayed  her 
unbounded  energy  and  resource. 

In  July  1499  Florence  sent  to  her  an  envoy, 
the  celebrated  Niccolo  Machiavelli,  to  endeavour 
to  obtain  her  agreement  to  various  arrangements 
by  which  Forli  was  to  give  much  and  obtain 
little.  But  not  even  Machiavelli  could  outwit 
Catherine,  and  we  are  told : — "  The  young  envoy 
found  more  than  his  match  in  the  woman  he  had 
tried,  and  failed,  to  circumvent."  Apparently 
Catherine  had  by  this  time  given  up  inhabiting 
her  palace  in  the  town,  and  for  greater  security 
had  transferred  her  abode  to  a  new  residence  which 
she  had  constructed  in  the  castle.  Tomasini,  in 
his  life  of  Machiavelli,  describing  "  those  long- 
vanished  halls  that  witnessed  these  interviews  of 
Catherine  Sforza  and  Niccolo  Machiavelli,"  says : — 

"  Catherine  had  demolished  that  part  of  the 
citadel  which  had  seen  her  temporary  humiliation 
by  the  insurgents,  and  on  the  highest  part  of  the 
walls,  which  w^ere  held  to  be  impregnable,  had 
built  herself  a  new  and  magnificent  abode.     She 


xxii]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR  203 

had  named  this  '  Paradiso,'  from  its  beauty  and 
the  fine  architecture  of  its  lofty  rooms,  decorated 
with  splendid  paintings,  and  brilliant  with  gilded 
goffered  ceilings  on  which  were  displayed  the  arms 
of  the  Visconti.  ...  In  these  rooms,  and  amidst 
those  defences  where  not  long  afterwards  this 
brave  woman  calmly  awaited  the  assault  of  the 
Borgia  and  her  own  ruin,  she  received  the  envoy 
Niccolo  Machiavelli,  who  carried  away  with  him 
a  deep  impression  of  her  beauty,  her  greatness  of 
soul,  and  the  strength  of  her  castle."  ^ 

All  through  the  year  1499  Catherine  was  busy 
in  preparing  for  the  attack  which  was  coming  upon 
her  from  the  Pope  and  his  ally,  the  new  King  of 
P'rance,  Louis  XII.  The  latter  had  deprived  her 
uncle  Ludovico  of  his  throne  and  put  him  to  flight, 
so  no  assistance  could  come  to  her  from  Milan. 
The  Republic  of  Florence  could  not  help  her,  for 
it  was  itself  at  this  time  trembling  before  Caesar 
Borgia,  and  (notwithstanding  the  specious  pro- 
testations of  Florentine  friendship  which  had  been 
conveyed  to  her  by  Machiavelli)  dared  take  no 
action  which  would  bring  trouble  upon  Florence 
from  that  quarter.  No  other  states  would  ally 
themselves  wdth  her  against  two  such  powerful 
adversaries  as  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  France. 
Alexander  VI.  issued  a  bull  by  which  he  deposed 
this  "  daughter  of  iniquity,"  and  invested  Caesar 
Borgia  with  her  territories.  And  Louis  XII. 
addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  states  of  Italy 
stating  that  he  was  despatching  an  army  under 
Cajsar  Borgia,  Duke  of  Valentino,  to  besiege  and 
take  the  fortresses  of  Imola  and  Forli  on  behalf  of 

^  Life  of  Niccold  Machiavelli,  by  Tomasini. 


204.  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap. 

the  Pope.  Thus  the  force  which  Cassar  Borgia  was 
able  to  bring  against  her  was  far  beyond  anything 
which  she  could  put  in  the  field  ;  for  he  had  not 
only  the  whole  of  the  Papal  forces,  but  also  15,000 
French  under  Ives  d'AUegre  and  4,000  Swiss. 

But  nothing  daunted  Catherine  Sforza's  stout 
heart,  and  she  prepared  with  the  utmost  energy 
to  resist  the  united  power  of  the  Pope  and  the 
King  of  France,  and  worked  away  at  her  defences 
as  though  she  had  any  number  of  powerful  allies, 
instead  of  only  the  strength  of  her  own  small 
state.  Though  she  knew  that  she  was  enormously 
overmatched,  and  that  all  her  efforts  would  be 
powerless  to  prevail  against  such  a  force,  she  was 
determined  to  defend  the  rights  of  her  children  to 
the  last.  She  cut  down  all  the  trees  round  the 
town ;  she  burnt  down  the  suburbs ;  she  destroyed 
even  the  pleasure-house  in  her  park,  and  cut  down 
its  trees ;  she  erected  fortifications  in  every  direc- 
tion ;  she  sent  away  her  children  to  Florence ;  she 
diverted  the  streams  in  the  hills  and  flooded  the 
whole  country  round  the  town ;  and  she  devoted 
every  spare  hour  to  personally  drilling  her  troops 
and  increasing  their  efficiency. 

In  November  1499  Cassar  Borgia's  army 
advanced  against  Imola ;  it  was  furiously  attacked, 
taken  by  assault,  and  sacked.  This  frightened 
the  citizens  of  Forli,  and  the  Signoria,  after  long 
debate,  and  "  much  hustling  by  Catherine,"  declined 
to  stand  by  her  against  the  Pope,  and  agreed  to 
surrender  the  town.  Catherine,  on  receiving  their 
message  to  this  effect,  sent  Landriani  to  tell  the 
members  of  the  Signoria  that  they  were  "rabbits." 
She  withdrew  her  forces  into  the  castle  and  there 


xx/i.]  DEFENCE  OF  FORLI  205 

stood  at  bay ;  jind  on  the  following  day  Ca?sar 
Borgia  with  his  army  entered  the  town.  He  did 
his  utmost  to  induce  her  to  surrender,  but  with- 
out avail ;  tlie  more  desperate  her  case  grew,  the 
more  resolute  Catherine  became.  The  castle  was 
fiercely  attacked,  but  successfully  resisted  all  the 
enemy's  efforts ;  it  steadily  bombarded  the  town, 
and  especially  the  palace  in  which  Ca?sar  Borgia 
had  taken  up  his  quarters,  which  made  him  furious. 
After  some  time  he  tried  a  parley,  and  advanced 
to  the  edge  of  the  moat,  and  presently  Catherine 
looked  down  on  him  from  the  battlements.  He 
pointed  out  to  her  the  overwhelming  strength  of 
his  forces  and  the  uselessness  of  further  struggle, 
and  urged  her  to  yield  ;  but  she  replied  that  she 
"  was  the  daughter  of  one  who  knew  no  fear,  and 
was  determined  to  walk  in  his  steps  till  death." 
So  the  bombardment  continued.  Again  a  second 
time  he  tried  a  parley,  urging  upon  her  still  more 
forcible  .arguments,  but  with  the  same  result. 
Catherine  hoped  that  her  half-sister,  the  Empress 
of  Germany,  would  induce  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian to  send  her  assistance ;  but  the  latter 
dreaded  CiEsar  Borgia  too  much  to  do  so,  and 
no  help  came  to  the  beleaguered  castle  of  Forli. 
All  through  December  1499  the  furious  contest 
went  on,  the  castle  being  continuously  attacked, 
but  successfully  beating  off  all  assaults.  Damage 
done  to  the  defences  by  day  was  regularly  repaired 
each  night,  and  Catherine's  resource  seemed  inex- 
haustible ;  while  the  high  spirit  with  which  slie 
conducted  her  defence,  and  encouraged  the  sinking 
hearts  of  her  troops  as  their  numbers  gradually 
dwindled,  won    the  admiration    even  of  her  foes, 


206  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap. 

juul  especially  of  the  French,  who  swore  they 
would  like  to  serve  under  her  command.  Catherine 
at  this  time  wore  armour  permanently,  and  there 
is  still  to  be  seen  a  suit  of  woman's  plate  armour 
said  to  have  been  hers,  which  may  have  been  that 
worn  by  her  during  this  siege. ^ 

"  On  the  last  night  of  the  year  she  took  counsel 
till  late  at  night  with  her  captains  and  engineers, 
and  at  early  morn  made  a  thorough  inspection  of 
the  entire  castle.  From  the  height  of  the  chief 
tower,  which  she  had  climbed  to  look  down  on  the 
city,  the  enemy's  camp,  and  the  ravaged  and  snow- 
clad  plain,  she  saw  the  dawn  of  a  new  century,  and 
the  sun  rise  on  the  1st  of  January  1500."^ 

Four  days  later  a  breach  was  made  in  the  castle 
walls  which  could  not  be  repaired,  and  the  enemy 
forced  their  way  in.  But  Catherine  retreated  to 
the  citadel,  and  still  stood  at  bay,  and  her  beloved 
"  Paradiso  "  was  defended  to  the  end.  "  Never," 
wrote  Grunello,  "  had  been  seen  a  woman  of  such 
spirit."  At  length,  when  the  castle  was  crowded 
with  the  enemy,  the  citadel  still  remaining  hers, 
Catherine  ordered  the  magazine  to  be  blown  up, 
determined  to  perish  unconquered  in  the  ruins ; 
but  it  was  done  ineffectively,  and  only  gave  further 
assistance  to  the  attack.  At  last  Cassar  Borgia 
demanded  to  parley  with  her,  and  while  she  spoke 
with  him  she  was  treacherously  seized  from  behind, 
and  the  defence  of  Forli  by  its  lion-hearted  Countess 
was  at  an  end  (8th  January  1500). 

D'All^gre,   the    French   commander,    declared 
that  Catherine  was  the   prisoner  of  the    King  of 

*  Thout):h  otlipr  accounts  say  that  she  wore  chain  armour  at  this  time. 
-  Life  of  Catherine  S/urza,  by  Count  Pasoliui. 


xxn.]  THE   POPE'S   PRISONER  207 

France ;  but  Csesar  Borgia  refused  to  give  her  up, 
and  on  the  23rd  of  January  he  marched  out  of 
Forfi  conveying  her  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome,  and 
treating  her  with  many  indignities.  Csesar  Borgia 
reached  Rome  on  the  26th  February,  and  as 
Catherine  once  more  entered  through  the  Porta 
del  Popolo  she  must  have  contrasted  this  entry 
with  that  first  brilHant  one  of  hers  as  a  girl  of 
fifteen  twenty-three  years  before.  At  first  she 
was  treated  well,  but  was  soon  consigned  to  the 
dungeons  of  the  castle  of  St  Angelo  on  a  charge 
of  plotting  to  poison  the  Pope,  and  was  there 
shamefully  treated.  The  Borgia  did  not  dare  openly 
to  put  to  death  one  whose  sister  was  married  to  the 
Emperor  and  whom  the  King  of  France  claimed 
as  his  prisoner,  but  they  intended  that  she  should 
die  nevertheless ;  and  for  a  whole  year  she  dis- 
appeared from  sight.  However,  in  June  1501  the 
French  army  returned  to  Italy  and  heard  of  her 
disappearance  into  the  dungeons  of  St  Angelo ; 
her  gallant  defence  of  Forh  had  shed  glory  on  tlie 
French  arms  by  their  capture  of  so  formidable  a 
castle,  and  Louis  XII.  refused  to  allow  her  to  be 
thus  treated,  and  insisted  on  her  being  set  at  liberty. 
Caesar  Borgia  opposed  her  liberation  with  all  his 
might,  declaring  that  she  would  turn  Lombardy 
and  Romagna  upside  down ;  but  the  commander 
of  the  French  army,  D'Allegre,  who  had  tried  to 
protect  Catherine  from  him  when  she  surrendered 
at  Forli,  sw  ore  that  if  she  were  not  set  free  at  once 
the  French  army,  then  approaching  Rome,  should 
plunder  and  sack  the  city ;  and  the  Pope  had  to 
submit. 

D'Allegre  rode  himself  to  the  castle  of  St  Angelo 


208  CATHERINE   SFORZA  [chap. 

to  annoiiTK^e  to  Catherine  her  freedom.  Then  wr.s 
revealed  what  she  had  endured  since  she  had  been 
imprisoned  in  the  Borgia's  dungeons. 

"  The  woman  who  rose  to  greet  Monseigneur 
D'AUegre  bore  no  resemblance  to  her  whom  he 
had  known  a  year  and  a  half  ago.  She  had  spent 
over  a  year  in  the  dark,  narrow  cell  into  which 
the  Borgia  had  thrust  her.  They  had  expended 
as  little  as  possible  on  her,  in  continual  expecta- 
tion of  her  death.  She  was  haggard  from  suflPering 
and  scant  food,  worn  by  fever,  and  livid  from  living 
in  the  dark.  .  .  .  Every  time  that  her  scanty  food 
was  brought  her  she  had  dreaded  poison  ;  every 
nig] it  she  had  dreaded  the  Tiber.  D'AUegre  was 
horrified ;  could  this  be  the  fiery  lady  of  Forli, 
grand  even  in  defeat,  whom  he  had  last  seen  at  the 
close  of  her  gallant  struggle  to  defend  her  castle  ? 
She  was  so  changed  that  he  did  not  know  her."^ 

And  now  there  comes  out  a  new  trait  in  this 
woman's  character ;  and  it  is  witnessed  to  by  her 
own  letters.  These  show  that  her  sufferings  were 
no  surprise  to  her ;  she  felt  that  she  deserved  them. 
The  influences  of  her  earliest  years,  under  her 
grandmother,  Bianca  Visconti,  and  the  Duchess 
Bona,  had  never  deserted  Catherine  Sforza.  And 
her  letters  show  that  while  she  believed  that  God 
would  punish  the  Borgia  for  their  cruel  treatment 
of  herself,  she  believed  no  less  that  in  her  own 
sufferings,  her  victims  —those  innocent  ones  who 
had  been  thrown  down  spiked  wells,  or  had  been 
tortured  to  death  in  her  dungeons— w^ere  being 
avenged,  and  that  God  had  surely  punished  her 
who  had  been  guilty  of  these  crimes. 

*  Life  of  Catherine  Sforza,  by  Count  Pasolini. 


xxii.J  HER   FREEDOM   REGAINED  ^09 

She  was  liberated  on  the  13th  July  1501,  and 
at  once  fled  from  Rome  by  the  Tiber  in  a  boat 
to  Ostia,  thence  by  sea  to  a  point  on  the  coast 
near  Pisa,  and  thence  by  road  to  Florence.  She 
chose  this  route  because  she  knew  that  Caesar 
Borgia,  disgusted  at  her  being  set  free,  had  posted 
assassins  on  the  land  route  to  murder  her.  At 
Florence  she  met  all  her  children,  and  was  received 
with  cordiality  by  her  late  husband's  brother, 
Lorenzo  the  Younger,  the  Florentines  welcoming 
her  with  a  public  ovation ;  the  warmth  of  which 
reception  much  offended  the  Pope.  Yet  this 
woman,  who  had  formerly  so  fiercely  denounced 
her  enemies,  whose  violence  of  language  when 
roused  had  been  the  terror  of  Forfi,  and  who  had 
been  betrayed,  calumniated,  and  tortured  by  the 
Borgia,  never  afterwards  mentioned  them  in  anger. 
Of  her  sufferings  she  would  never  speak.  Once 
only  to  her  Dominican  confessor  she  said  :  "  Could 
I  write  all,  the  world  would  turn  to  stone. " 

During  the  remaining  eight  years  of  her  life 
Catherine  lived  at  Florence  in  much  retirement, 
chiefly  at  her  late  husband's  villa  of  Castello ; 
though  even  here  she  did  not  enjoy  peace,  being 
much  harassed  both  by  the  money  difficulties 
and  incapacity  of  her  elder  sons,  and  by  a  long 
struggle,  ending  with  lawsuit,  to  protect  the 
property  of  her  youngest  son.  On  the  death  in 
1503  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  most  of  the  princes 
of  Romagna  whose  states  he  and  Cassar  Borgia 
had  seized  resumed  them  again,  and  Catherine 
urged  her  son  Octavian  to  do  the  same  and  take 
possession  of  Forh ;  but  he  being  indolent  and 
incapable,   declined  to  make  any  such  effort,     it 

VOL.    11.  o 


tilO  CATHERLNE   SFORZA  LcHAf. 

is  remarkable  to  notice  how,  notwithstanding  all 
their  mother's  ability  and  energy,  not  one  of  all 
her  five  sons  by  her  first  husband  Riario,  nor  her 
son  by  her  second  husband  Feo,  inherited  a 
particle  of  her  qualities,  but  were  all  of  them 
without  capacity,  energy,  or  strength  of  character ; 
whereas  in  her  son  by  her  third  husband  Giovanni 
de'  Medici,  all  Catherine's  qualities  were  repro- 
duced in  full  vigour,  and  in  him  Medici  and 
Sforza  were  most  powerfully  blended. 

This  boy  Giovanni  was  now  five  years  old 
and  Catherine  soon  found  herself  involved  in  an 
arduous  conflict  to  protect  him  from  the  designs 
of  his  uncle,  Lorenzo  the  Younger,  and  the  latter's 
son,  Pier  Francesco  the  Younger.  The  former, 
while  Catherine  was  in  prison  at  Rome  and 
unhkely  ever  again  to  appear,  had  spent  a  large 
part  of  his  late  brother's  inheritance,  and  this 
would  be  discovered  unless  they  could  get  the 
boy  into  their  hands.  Accordingly,  after  various 
unsuccessful  endeavours  to  get  Catherine  to  give 
him  up,  they  went  to  law  with  her  over  her 
guardianship  of  him,  and  also  over  the  possession 
of  her  late  husband's  villa  of  Castello.  All 
Catherine's  fighting  instincts  were  roused  by  this 
conduct ;  Castello  became  to  her  another  Forli ; 
she  declared  that  "they  should  only  get  her 
out  of  it  in  pieces. "  At  length,  however,  she 
was  obliged  to  leave  it  for  a  time  until  the  result 
of  the  lawsuit,  which  dragged  on  interminably, 
should  become  know^n ;  and  while  thus  forced 
to  leave  her  abode,  took  refuge  at  that  convent 
of  the  Murate  w^iere  another  Catherine  w^as, 
twenty-three  years  later,  to  live  during  the  dawn 


PI.ATK    XI, VI. 


(ATJIF.HINK    SIdUZA,     WMK    dl     <.ln\   \\\I     Id;"     MICDKI^    AT    1  llltTX    ri\  K. 

Hy  \'asaii. 

'■"''"'"■*']  '  [I'ahizzo  Vecchio,  Florence. 


XXII.]  THE   STORMY    COURSE   ENDED  211 

of  life  instead  of  its  close.  Eventually  the  law- 
suit was  given  in  Catherine's  favour,  but  then 
Lorenzo  contrived  to  steal  the  boy,  and  she  had 
again  to  go  to  law  to  get  him  back.  Thereupon, 
considering  that  his  life  was  in  danger,  she  sent 
him  to  the  convent  of  the  Annalena,  where  she 
caused  him  to  be  dressed  in  girl's  clothes  and 
kept  there  in  hiding  for  about  a  year.  Catherine's 
portrait  by  Vasari  ^  shows  her  as  she  was  at  this 
time  in  her  life. 

The  loss  of  the  above  lawsuit,  which  had 
become  a  cause  cclchi'c  in  Florence,  together  with 
the  disgrace  which  he  incurred  among  his  fellow- 
countrymen  on  account  of  the  embezzlement  of 
his  nephew's  property,  so  preyed  on  Lorenzo's 
mind  that  he  fell  ill  and  died  (1507).  Where- 
upon Catherine  returned  with  her  boy  Giovanni 
(now  nine  years  old)  to  the  villa  of  Castello,  where 
she  spent  the  remaining  two  years  of  her  life  in 
training  him  in  all  manly  exercises.  Catherine 
delighted  in  him ;  he  was  a  true  Sforza,  "  all  fire, 
arms,  and  horses, "  as  she  writes,  and  she  was  for 
these  last  two  years  of  her  life  perfectly  happy. 
But  her  naturally  vigorous  health  had  been  per- 
manently ruined  by  her  terrible  imprisonment. 
After  two  happy  years  with  her  fiery  little  son  at 
Castello,  her  health,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1509,  began  altogether  to  give  way,  one  of  her 
feet  especially  causing  her  much  suffering.     To  be 

^  Plate  XLVI.  Owina;  to  a  mistake  of  the  photographers,  which  lias 
now  been  corrected,  many  photographs  of  tliis  portrait  and  of  that  shown 
in  Plate  XLVIII.  exist  in  whicli  the  names  C'atlieriue  Sforza  and  .Maria 
Salviati  have  been  intercliangod  ;  witli  the  result  that  books  wliich  have 
been  published  containing  reproductions  of  tliese  photographs  have 
perpetuated  the  mistake  as  to  the^sc  two  portraits. 


212  CATHERINE  SFORZA  [chap,  xxn 

nearer  to  doctors  she  moved  into  the  city ;  and 
on  the  28th  of  May  1509  Catherine  Sforza,  the 
brave  Countess  of  Forh,  passed  away  at  the  age 
of  forty-seven.  She  died  at  the  house  in  the  Via 
Larfifa  which  was  then  the  next  but  one  to  the 
Medici  Palace.^  She  was  buried  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Murate  convent,  where  she  had  spent  a  great 
part  of  her  latter  years ;  but  her  tomb  is  not  now 
to  be  seen,  having  been  broken  up  when  a  few 
years  ago  that  convent  was  converted  into  the 
State  prison.  At  her  death  she  confided  the  charge 
of  her  son  to  Jacopo  Salviati,  who  had  been  his 
tutor,  and  was  also  a  connection  by  marriage,  his 
wife  Lucrezia  being  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  and  belonging  to  that  elder  branch 
of  the  Medici  family  who  had  been  exiled,  and 
who  at  this  time  seemed  unlikely  ever  to  be 
allowed  to  return  to  Florence. 

'•Her  house  (which  had  been  the  property  of  her  husband,  Giovanni) 
is  now  No.  5  Via  Cavour.  It  is  visible  in  Plate  V.,  a  small  house  stand- 
ing next  to  the  northern  end  of  the  Medici  Palace.  In  her  time  between 
her  house  and  the  Medici  Palace  intervened  the  house  of  her  enemy, 
Pier  Francesco  the  Younger,  which  at  his  death  passed  to  his  son 
Lorenzino,  and  was  afterwards  destroyed,  the  addition  to  the  Medici 
Palace  being  built  on  its  site  (vol.  i.  p^j.  510-511). 


CHArTER   XXIII 

GIOVANNI    DELLE   BANDE   NERE   AND   MARIA 
SALVIATI 

GIOVANNI   DELLE   BANDE   NERE 

Bom  1498.     Died  1526. 

The  life  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,^  the  only 
soldier  of  the  Medici  family,  comes  like  a  refresh- 
ing wmd  from  another  sphere  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  diplomacy,  craft,  and  ignoble  scheming  of  the 
times  of  Leo  X.,  Clement  VII.,  Francis  I.,  and 
Charles  V.,  which  is  the  period  in  which  his 
short  life  was  passed. 

The  only  child  of  Giovanni  de'  Medici  and  his 
wife,  Catherine  Sforza,  he  was  born  in  FoiTi  on 
the  6th  April  1498,  and  when  about  a  year  and 
a  half  old  was  sent  away  by  his  mother  from 
FoiTi  (then  about  to  be  attacked)  to  Florence, 
to  the  charge  of  his  uncle,  Lorenzo.  When  he 
was  three  years  old  his  mother  arrived  at  Florence 
from  her  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  Giovanni 
returned  to  her  care ;  and  his  earliest  recollections 
must  have  been  those  of  the  villa  of  Castello,  with 
its  stiff  and  formal  garden  and  adjacent  woods. 
When  about  eight  years  old  he  was  sent  by  his 
mother  to  the    convent   of  the   Annalena,   where 

'  Plate  XLVri. 
21i3 


214  GIOVANNI   DELLE   BANDE   NERE        [chap. 

he  was  kept  in  liiding,  disguised  as  a  girl,  like 
another  Aeliilles.  After  about  a  year  he  returned 
to  his  mother's  care,  living  with  her  at  the  villa 
of  Castello,  and  being  entirely  trained  by  her.  As 
a  boy  he  cared  for  nothing  but  riding,  swimming, 
and  manly  exercises,  and  was  difficult  to  manage, 
being  fiery  and  headstrong,  though  he  showed  an 
affectionate  and  generous  nature.  He  was  tlie 
joy  of  his  mother's  heart,  as  she  saw  in  him  one 
such  as  her  own  ancestors  had  been ;  and  she 
was  never  tired  of  expatiating  on  his  manly  spirit 
and  his  love  of  arms,  horses,  and  military  exercises. 
At  the  same  time  she  knew  that  strength  and 
valour  alone  would  not  enable  him  to  achieve 
success  in  that  military  career  for  which  almost 
from  his  very  cradle  he  showed  such  a  strong 
inclination,  and  from  the  time  he  was  nine  years 
old  she  sought  everywhere  for  the  best  tutors  for 
him,  being  determined  to  make  him  a  man  fitted 
to  command  armies  and  rule  a  state. 

His  mother,  however,  died  when  he  was  still 
only  eleven  years  old,  and,  in  accordance  with  her 
will,  Jacopo  Salviati  became  his  guardian ;  and 
under  the  care  of  Salviati  and  his  wife  Lucrezia 
Giovanni  remained  until  he  was  seventeen.  The 
charge  was  not  an  easy  one,  for  even  as  quite  a 
little  boy  he  would  never  obey  any  one  but  his 
mother,  so  that  when  she  died  there  was  no  one 
who  could  control  him ;  but  in  time  Lucrezia 
gained  great  influence  over  him,  and  he  always 
held  her  in  much  respect.  The  Salviati  lived 
in  a  palace  in  the  Corso  in  Florence  notable  as 
being  that  in  which  had  lived  in  the  thirteenth 
century   Folco   Portinari,   the    father    of    Dante's 


xxiii]       ENTRY   ON   A   MILITARY   CAREER         215 

Beatrice,  and  which  the  Salviati  when  it  became 
theirs  had  restored.^  Here  Giovanni  grew  up, 
taking  warmly  to  all  things  which  would  fit  him 
for  a  military  career,  but  averse  to  books  except 
such  as  might  assist  that  object. 

Pope  Alexander  VI.  had  been  succeeded  by 
Pope  Julius  II.,  and  under  his  auspices,  when 
Giovanni  was  fourteen,  the  elder  branch  of 
the  Medici  returned  to  Florence.  Giovanni 
watched  their  entry  into  the  city,  and  writes 
that  it  was  "  a  fine  siffht. "  The  government 
of  Florence  thereupon  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Giuliano  (Due  de  Nemours),  Lucrezia  Salviati's 
brother;  and  a  few  months  later,  on  the  death 
of  Julius  II.,  her  other  brother,  Giovanni,  became 
Pope  Leo  X.  This  changed  considerably  the 
position  of  the  Salviati,  and  henceforth  the  young 
son  of  Catherine  Sforza  looked  forward  to  obtain- 
ing his  much -desired  military  career  through 
Lucrezia  Salviati's  influence  with  her  brother,  the 
Pope. 

In  151.5,  when  Giovanni  was  seventeen,  Leo  X. 
sent  for  him  to  Rome,  where  Giovanni  speedily 
distinguished  himself  by  numerous  quarrels  and 
equally  numerous  deeds  of  bravery ;  one  of  these 
latter  is  depicted  on  the  wall  of  the  Sala  di 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,  in  the  Palazzo 
Vecchio,  showing  him,  when  a  band  of  the  Orsini 
tried  to  take  him  prisoner,  forcing  his  way  through 
them  with  only  ten  soldiers.  During  this  time 
we  find  Lucrezia  Salviati  writinsf  to  him  as  a 
mother  to   her   son,  and    giving  him   mucli  good 

^  It   stands   near  tlio   corner   vvliere  the   Corso  joins  the  Via   del 
I'rocoiisolo,  and  now  forms  part  of  the  schools  of  the  Padri  Scolopi. 


^H;        GIOVANNI  DELLE  BANDE  NERE  [chap. 

advice.  Tn  the  following  year,  when  he  was 
eighteen,  Giovanni  at  last  obtained  that  which 
had  been  the  desire  of  his  heart  from  his  earliest 
years,  and  was  given  by  the  Pope  command  of 
a  troop  of  a  hundred  cavalry,  and  saw  his  first 
campaign,  he  and  his  troops  being  sent  as  part 
of  the  force  despatched  by  Pope  Leo  to  attack 
Urbino,  under  the  command  of  the  Pope's  nephew 
Lorenzo,  who  had  become  ruler  of  Florence. 

In  this  campaign  Giovanni  showed  so  many 
valuable  qualities  as  a  leader  that  he  was  soon 
advanced  to  a  larger  command.  He  manifested 
from  the  very  first  all  those  qualities  which  most 
endear  a  commander  to  those  whom  he  leads  in  war, 
and  in  a  very  short  time  his  soldiers  idolized  him. 
And  there  was  some  one  else  who  idolized  him 
too,  namely,  his  guardian's  sensible  and  good- 
hearted  daughter,  Maria  Salviati,  who  had  grown 
up  with  him,  and  knew  all  his  aspirations,  and 
worshipped  this  fine  young  soldier  who  loved 
her  and  was  so  rapidly  winning  distinction.  So 
in  November  1516,  when  Giovanni  came  back 
from  his  first  campaign,  they  were  married,  he  being 
then  a  little  over  eighteen  and  she  seventeen.  By 
this  marriage  the  two  branches  of  the  Medici  family 
were  united,  Maria's  mother  being  a  great-grand- 
daughter of  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  and  Giovanni 
a  great-grandson  of  Cosimo's  brother  Lorenzo.^ 

But  not  for  long  did  Giovanni  remain  encircled 
by  the  silken  cords  of  love.  He  was  soon  back 
again  with  his  troops,  and  seeking  fighting  where- 
ever  it  was  to  be  found.  Nor  did  he  even  confine 
himself  to  land  operations ;  once,  when  there  was 

^  See  Appendix  I. 


xxiji]  HIS   RAPID   RISE  217 

no  fightiiis:  to  be  done  on  land,  lie  managed  to  get 
three  small  ships  fitted  out,  and  proceeded  on  a 
cruise  in  pursuit  of  the  pirates  who  infested  the 
coasts  of  the  Adriatic.  His  rise  was  tremendously 
rapid,  and  we  soon  find  him  given  by  Leo  X.  the 
command  of  a  force  of  four  thousand  infantry  and 
a  hundred  ca\alry,  and  sent  to  attack  Fernio. 
A  hard-fought  battle  ensued,  in  which  Giovanni 
was  victorious ;  his  letter  announcing  his  success 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  State  archives  in  Florence, 
written  in  the  bold,  round  style  which  character- 
ises his  handwriting.  Meanwhile  Maria  remained 
in  Florence,  living  in  the  Salviati  palace,  where  on 
the  12th  June  1519  a  son  was  born  to  them  whom 
they  named  Cosimo,  at  the  request  of  Pope  Leo 
X.,  after  the  latter's  ancestor,  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae.  It  is  told  of  Giovanni  that  in  order  to 
make  the  child  courageous  he  had  him  thrown 
from  the  first  floor  of  the  Salviati  palace  into  the 
courtyard,  where  he  stood  and  caught  him  in 
his  arms ;  though  what  Maria  thought  of  such 
escapades  with  her  child  is  not  related. 

In  this  year  1.519,  when  Giovanni  was  twenty- 
one,  Lorenzo  (Duke  of  Urbino),  the  nephew  of 
Leo  X.,  died  .  and  as  he  left  only  a  daughter, 
while  Giuliano  (Due  de  Nemours)  had  left  no 
legitimate  heir,  it  was  exideiit  that  on  the  death 
of  Pope  Leo  X.  the  rights  of  the  Medici  to  the 
rule  of  Florence  would  pass  to  the  younger  branch, 
of  which  Giovanni  was  the  most  important  repre- 
sentative. The  latter,  however,  was  rapidly  making 
for  himself  so  great  a  rei)utation  as  a  connnyndcr  in 
war  that  he  despised  all  such  questions,  and  gave 
no   attention  to  the   matter.     The  time   was  one 


218  GIOVANNI  DELLE  BANDE  NERE  [chap 

in  which  war  was  becoming  the  normal  condition 
in  Italy,  and  by  the  time  that  Giovanni  was 
twenty-two  he  commanded  a  force  of  his  own ; 
and  these  troops  were  becoming  renowned  through- 
out Italy.  From  the  black  armour  which  they 
wore  they  were  called  the  "  Bande  Nere "  (or 
Black  Bands),  which  gave  Giovanni  the  name  by 
which  he  is  known  in  history.  And  so  invariable 
was  his  success  in  command  of  this  force  that  he 
had  already  gained  the  title  of  "  The  Invincible," 
and  was  one  of  the  most  noted  leaders  in  Italy. 

In  1521,  when  he  was  twenty-three,  the  long 
war  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  began,  and 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  was  now  to  have  a 
larger  field  for  the  display  of  his  military  talents. 
So  far  as  Italy  was  concerned  this  first  campaign 
between  the  two  great  antagonists  resolved  itself 
into  a  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Milan,  which 
since  the  battle  of  JMarignano  in  1515  had  belonged 
to  France.  Pope  Leo  X.  sided  with  Charles  V., 
and  to  assist  the  imperial  army  in  the  campaign 
in  Lombard}^  against  the  French  commander,  De 
Lautrec,  sent  a  large  body  of  troops  of  which  the 
Bande  Nere  formed  an  important  part.  In  these 
operations  we  find  Giovanni  holding  with  his 
force  the  line  of  the  Adda  to  the  east  of  Milan, 
and  eventually  performing  a  remarkable  feat  in 
swimming  his  entire  force  across  that  river  in 
order  to  make  a  rapid  advance  upon  Milan ;  the 
result  of  this  was  that  the  city  was  taken,  to  the 
great  delight  of  the  Pope,  who,  however,  died  a 
week  or  two  afterwards. 

During  the  short  pontificate  of  Adrian  VI. 
the     war    languished,    but    in     1523,    soon    after 


5X117]  HIS   GREAT   REPUTATION  219 

Clement  YJJ.  had  become  Pope,  the  French  again 
invaded  I^ombardy,  and  during  this  and  the  follow- 
ing year  the  fighting  in  northern  Italy  was  incessant. 
By  the  death  of  Leo  X.  Giovanni  delle  Bande 
Nere  (fLiiling  his  cousin  Lorenzino,  then  six  years 
old)  had  become  the  only  legitimate  representative 
of  the  Medici  claims  to  the  rule  of  Florence.  But 
Clement  VII.  was  scheming  in  every  way  to  keep 
that  rule  from  passing  to  the  younger  branch  of 
the  family ;  and  seeing  in  this  successful  soldier  a 
dangerous  obstacle  to  his  views,  managed  to  find 
constant  employment  for  Giovanni  and  the  Bande 
Nere,  hoping  that  sooner  or  later  he  would  get 
killed  in  battle.  And  Giovanni,  caring  nothing 
for  political  affairs,  and  entirely  absorbed  in  his 
profession,  was  only  too  ready  to  be  kept  thus 
employed. 

Meanwhile  Giovanni's  reputation  as  a  great 
soldier  grew  continually,  his  renown  spreading 
even  as  far  as  England.  He  had  begun  by  being 
looked  upon  as  a  uniformly  successful  leader  of  a 
first-rate  body  of  troops ;  he  was  now  getting  to 
be  considered  indispensable  wherever  large  opera- 
tions were  to  be  undertaken.  His  poor  young 
wife  Maria  saw  little  of  him,  and  was  for  ever 
imploring  him  to  come  home  and  attend  to  his 
family  affairs.  For  she  had  thoroughly  fathomed 
Pope  Clement's  design ;  and,  in  a  letter  to  her 
husband  in  1523,  shows  how  bitterly  she  felt  this 
crafty  plan  of  the  Pope's,  and  the  certainty  that 
sooner  or  later  Giovanni's  life  would  be  sacrificed. 
But  Giovanni  was  not  to  be  got  away  from  the 
stirring  life  of  the  camp  and  the  great  game  of 
war.     For  a  little  time,  however,  during  a  pause  in 


220  GIOVANNI  DELLE  BANDE  NERE  [chap. 

the  militmy  operations,  he  was  persuaded  to  retire 
to  lleggio,  where  Maria  was  dehghted  to  get  him 
to  lierself  for  a  few  months,  and  induce  him  to  lead 
a  quiet  hfe,  occupying  himself  with  field  sports. 
It  was  probably  at  this  time  that  Titian's  portrait 
of  him  (Plate  XL VI I.)  was  painted.  At  Reggio, 
attracted  by  his  fame,  there  gathered  round  him 
quite  a  small  court  of  notable  men ;  among  these 
was  Pietro  Aretino,^  a  man  more  in  his  element  in 
the  baneful  atmosphere  of  the  court  of  Charles  V. 
than  in  the  wholesomer  air  of  camps,  but  between 
whom  and  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  a  strong 
friendship  soon  grew  up.  But  this  time  of  rest 
at  Reggio  did  not  last  long,  and  Giovanni  was 
soon  again  in  the  field.  Shortly  afterwards 
Maria  writes  to  him  still  more  strongly  than  before, 
pointing  out  Pope  Clement's  artifices,  and  how 
he  was  arranging  to  attack  Ancona,  and  sending 
Giovanni  in  command  of  the  expedition,  solely 
with  the  object  of  keeping  him  continually  em- 
ployed, and  in  the  hope  that  he  would  eventually 
be  killed  in  battle.  But  poor  Maria's  tender  ex- 
hortations fell  on  deaf  ears. 

Early  in  1525  Francis  I.  made  his  great 
invasion  of  Lombardy,  and  Giovanni  delle  Bande 
Nere,  in  command  of  the  contingent  furnished  by 
the  Pope,  joined  the  French  King  before  Pavia, 
to  take  part  in  the  siege.  Ten  days  before  the 
battle  of  24th  February,  Giovanni,  while  recon- 
noitring the  enemy,  was  severely  wounded  by  a 
round  shot  and  his  leg  broken,  and  was  carried  to 
Piacenza.     Then  ensued  the  great  battle,  and  the 

'  His  portrait,  by  Titian,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Pitti  Gallery. 


PLATE  XLVII. 


I  liiuirl] 


;n(\A\M    i)i:i,i.i:    rt.wDi:    \i:hi 
\\\     Tili.iii. 


[Utfizi  aalhnj. 


xxiii.]  SEVERELY   WOUNDED  221 

destruction  of  the  whole  French  army.  Francis  I. 
always  declared  that  if  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Xere 
had  been  there  he  would  not  have  lost  the  day ; 
and  the  accounts  of  the  battle  tend  to  show  that  he 
was  probably  right.  This  disaster  to  the  French 
arms  put  an  end  to  the  war  for  the  time.  Mean- 
while Giovanni  was  lying  wounded  at  Piacenza, 
and  his  troops  were  in  great  destitution,  owing 
to  its  being  impossible  to  extract  their  pay  from 
the  Pope,  who  took  advantage  of  their  commander 
being  hors  de  combat  to  withhold  it.  In  this 
emergency  INIaria,  as  usual,  proved  herself  a  faith- 
ful and  capable  assistant  to  her  husband.  She 
writes  beseeching  him  not  again  to  attach  himself 
to  the  Pope's  cause,  pointing  out  the  duplicity 
with  which  Clement  was  treating  him,  and 
saying  :— 

"  There  will  be  no  Popes  like  those  that  are 
gone.  .  .  .  Will  you  not  cease  to  be  at  the  beck 
and  call  of  others,  and  come  home  and  attend  to 
your  own  concerns,  now  that  there  is  time  ?  (xod 
alone  knows  the  future ;  remember  Papa  Leo,  and 
how  suddenly  he  died." 

Ending  her  letter  with  the  prayer  that  God  will 
keep  Giovanni  in  safety.  And  then  having  written 
thus,  she  went  in  person  to  Rome,  and  bravely 
assailed  Pope  Clement,  demanding  the  pay  of 
Giovanni's  soldiers,  and  forced  him  to  give  her 
six  thousand  ducats  for  them. 

But  INIaria  did  not  get  her  Giovanni  to  come 
home  and  attend  to  his  own  concerns.  Even 
before  his  wound  was  healed  he  was  again  busy 
in  preparations  for  the  fresh  campaign  which  was 


222        (llOVANNl   DELLE   BANDE   NERE  [chap. 

impendirifT.  He  writes  to  Maria  to  buy  fresh 
horses,  arms,  and  equipment  in  Florence  to  replace 
those  lost  in  the  recent  operations,  and  for  the 
new  levies  which  he  was  raising.  And  she,  though 
it  strained  his  resources  greatly,  complied.  And  a 
few  months  later  Giovanni  was  again  at  the  head 
of  his  troops,  and  the  tide  of  war  once  more  sweep- 
ing over  Lombardy.  Francis  I.  having  regained 
his  liberty,  there  was  formed  in  1526  the  league 
between  France,  the  Pope,  V^enice,  and  Florence 
against  Charles  V. ;  and  at  such  a  time  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere,  Italy's  foremost  commander, 
could  not  be  absent.  His  command  now  consisted 
of  the  whole  of  the  infantry  supplied  by  the  Pope 
and  Florence,  together  with  a  corps  of  about  a 
thousand  cavalry ;  while  the  entire  army  of  the 
allies  was  commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Urbino. 
Various  operations  took  place,  in  which  the  Duke 
of  Urbino  was  completely  out-generaled  by  the 
imperial  commander,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and 
the  allied  army  forced  to  retire. 

And  then  came  the  end  ;  that  end  for  which 
Clement  had  hoped,  and  which  Maria  had  so 
long  sorrowfully  foreseen.  On  the  bank  of  the 
Mincio,  in  the  plain  of  Governolo,  eight  miles  from 
JMantua,  there  were  in  November  four  days'  severe 
fighting ;  and  on  the  fourth  day  Giovanni  was 
struck  by  a  shot  from  the  enemy's  artillery  in 
the  leg  previously  wounded  at  Pavia.  They 
carried  him  to  Mantua,  where,  though  an  enemy, 
he  was  lodged  by  Federigo  Gonzaga,  Marquis  of 
JMantua,  in  his  own  palace,  and  treated  with  every 
honour.  Pietro  Aretino  was  with  him,  and  was 
directed  to  tell  him  that  his  leg  must  be  amputated, 


xxiii.j  iilS   DEATH  223 

a  terrible  operation  in  those  days.  They  said  he 
must  be  held  by  ten  men,  but  he  declared  that 
no  one  should  hold  him,  "  and,  taking  the  candle, 
held  it  himself  throughout  the  oj^eration,  which 
was  performed  with  great  ignorance  and  roughness,^ 
causing  indescribable  agony."  And  after  all  it  was 
useless,  for  mortification  set  in  a  few  hours  after- 
wards. He  endured  intense  pain,  in  the  midst  of 
which,  however,  he  sent  an  affectionate  message  to 
poor  INTaria,  and  wrote  an  admirable  brief  address 
of  farewell  to  his  soldiers ;  and  then,  saying  he 
would  not  die  in  a  sick-bed,  had  himself  placed  on 
his  camp  bed,  and  the  pain  thereupon  departing, 
he  fell  asleep  and  so  died  (30th  November  1526). 
He  was  buried  in  his  armour,  in  the  church  of  San 
Francesco  in  Mantua ;  but  in  1085  his  remains 
were  brought  back  to  Florence,  and  buried  in  the 
family  mausoleum.  And  when  the  Medici  coffins 
were  opened  in  1857,  more  than  three  hundred 
years  after  his  death,  his  body  was  found  still  lying 
in  its  black  armour,  and  with  the  amputated  leg.^ 
Many  of  his  letters  are  in  the  State  archives  of 
Florence,  while  his  most  prominent  deeds  in  war 
are  immortalised  in  the  frescoes  on  the  walls  of 
the  Sala  di  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  in  the 
Palazzo  \^ecchio.  He  left  only  one  son,  Cosimo, 
who  was  seven  years  old  when  his  father  died. 

*  As  was  also  evidenced  by  the  ragged  bone,  from  the  rough  saw, 
seen  many  years  afterwards  when  his  coflin  was  opened. 

-  "  His  remains  wore  in  a  coffin  covered  with  black  velvet  enclosed 
in  another  coffin  of  red  wood.  The  bones  were  f:^llen  apart,  but  were 
enclosed  in  his  black  armour,  the  helmet  having  the  visor  closed.  Tlie 
right  leg  had  been  amputated,  the  bone  showing  how  badly  it  was  sawn, 
and  making  it  well  able  to  be  understood  why  this  caused  his  death.  A 
leaden  plate  at  the  hoad  bore  an  inscription  ^-iving  his  name,  and 
the  date  and  manner  of  bis  dcith,  a7id  detailing  his  great  deeds  in  war." 
(Offiii'tl  Report  on  the  examination  oj'  the  Tombu  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum, 
1357.) 


224  GIOVANNI    DELLE   BANDE  NERE  [chap. 

The  grief  of  tlie  soldiers  of  the  Bande  Nere  at 
their  great  commander's  death  was  overwhelming. 
They  wore  mourning  for  him  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives,  and,  carrying  a  black  banner,  his  celebrated 
corps  won  added  honour  even  after  he  was  gone 
to  the  name  he  had  made  so  renowned.  And 
long  afterwards  they  gave  a  notable  proof  of 
their  regard  for  him.  Most  of  Giovanni's  soldiers 
were  recruited  from  his  mother's  former  patrimony 
of  Imola.  And  many  years  after  his  death,  when 
his  son  Cosimo  was  ruler  of  Florence,  and  a 
movement  against  the  latter  was  being  got  up 
in  Romagna,  we  are  told  that  around  Imola  it 
could  make  no  way,  the  old  soldiers  of  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere  repressing  every  whisper  against 
their  revered  commander's  son. 

As  regards  the  character  of  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere  as  a  soldier,  we  are  told  again  and 
again  of  his  extraordinary  bravery,  his  fortitude 
amidst  dangers  and  hardships,  his  modesty,  just 
dealing,  generosity,  and  unselfishness.  The  person 
who  knew  him  best  was  Pietro  Aretino,  who  thus 
describes  him : — 

"  He  gave  away  to  his  soldiers  more  than  he 
ever  kept  for  himself.  Fatigue  and  hardship  he 
endured  with  the  greatest  patience.  In  the  battle- 
field he  wore  no  distinguishing  mark,  so  that  by 
his  conspicuous  valour  alone  could  he  be  singled 
out  from  his  men.  He  was  ever  the  first  to  mount, 
the  last  to  dismount.  He  esteemed  men  accord- 
ing to  their  value,  not  according  to  their  rank  or 
wealth.  He  was  always  better  than  his  w^ord  in 
action,  but  in  council  he  never  traded  on  his  great 
reputation.  He  had  a  wonderful  art  of  govern- 
ing his   soldiers,  now  by  love  and  now   by  fear. 


xxm]  SECRET   OF   HIS   SUCCESS  225 

Of  all  things  he  held  indolence  in  most  horror. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  his  disposition  was  naturally 
virtuous ;  his  faults  were  those  only  of  youth,  so 
that,  had  it  pleased  God  to  give  him  a  longer  life, 
every  one  would  have  been  as  convinced  of  his 
goodness  as  I  am  myself.  It  is  certain  that  he 
had  a  most  affectionate  heart.  In  short,  many 
may  envy  him,  but  none  can  imitate  him." 

So  died,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  the  greatest 
commander  produced  by  Italy  in  the  sixteenth 
century ;  ^  one  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that 
had  he  lived  longer  the  history  of  Italy  would 
have  been  altered  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
have  been  shorn  of  much  of  his  glory ;  ^  one 
also  who  attained  the  eminence  he  did,  not,  like 
Gaston  de  Foix  or  Charles  of  Bourbon,  through 
being  related  to  a  king,  but  entirely  by  his  own 
talents.  We  may  well  enquire  what  were  the  par- 
ticular methods,  peculiar  to  himself,  by  excelling 
in  wliich  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,  in  only  ten 
years  from  the  time  that  he  was  given  his  first 
troop  of  one  hundred  men,  made  himself  the 
greatest  commander  in  Italy.  There  were  plenty 
of  conspicuously  brave  men  among  the  leaders  of 
troops  at  this  time,  but  they  did  not  achieve  the 
success  attained  by  him ;   so  that  we  must  look 

^  As  the  greatest  soldier  uliich  Florence  has  produced,  his  statue 
has  been  placed  in  the  gallery  of  honour  in  the  Uffizi  colonnade. 

2  It  has  often  been  said  tliat  had  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  lived 
only  a  year  longer  the  capture  and  sack  of  Rome  in  1527  would  by 
him  have  been  prevented.  And  this  is  almost  certainly  correct.  For 
if  upon  Bourbon's  undisciplined  liorde  of  ragged  soldiery,  as  they 
streamed  through  Umbria  on  their  way  to  Rome,  had  been  brouglit 
an  atUick  from  the  strictly  disciplined  Bande  Nere  led  by  tiieir 
celebrated  commander,  not  all  Bourbon's  great  tjilent  as  a  general 
could  have  saved  his  army  from  destruction.  In  which  case  the  whole 
subsequent  course  of  events,  and  the  position  of  Clement  VII.  towards 
Charle-s  V.,  would  have  been  altered. 

VUL.    II.  P 


226  GIOVANNI   DELLE   BANDE   NERE         [chap. 

elsewhere  than  to  his  renowned  braveiy  for  the 
secret  of  that  success.  If  his  history  is  studied 
it  will  be  found  that  two  main  lines  of  action 
produced  the  result,  both  of  them  demonstrating 
unusual  insight  into  his  profession. 

As  regards  the  first  of  these,  it  is  stated 
that  he  was  the  first  commander  in  war  who 
exercised  a  personal  care  over  his  troops.  This 
new  departure  on  his  part  had  greater  results 
than  many — at  all  events  at  that  time — would 
have  supposed  likely.  For  we  find  that  his 
care  of  his  men,  watchful  protection  of  their 
interests,  generosity,  justice,  and  absence  of  regard 
for  himself,  when  joined  to  his  great  courage 
and  chivalrous  character,  made  his  soldiers,  not- 
withstanding his  very  strict  discipline,  ready  to 
make  efforts  for  him  which  none  other  could 
have  obtained  from  them. 

But  the  second  way  in  which  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere  struck  out  a  new  line  for  himself  is 
more  remarkable,  requiring  as  it  did  an  unusual 
independence  of  spirit.  In  those  days  (as  in  many 
subsequent  times)  it  was  considered  a  finer  thing 
to  command  men  who  rode  than  men  who  fought 
on  foot.  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  held  another 
view.  It  is  stated  that  he  was  the  first  commander 
since  Julius  Caesar  to  realise  that  since  it  is  the 
infantry  arm  which  in  battle  bears  the  brunt  of 
the  fighting,^  that  arm  must  in  all  ways  be  given 
the  chief  importance  (both  in  peace  and  war) 
by  a  commander  who  desires  success.  Acting  on 
this,  which  only  his  unusually  ardent  love  for  the 

1  Although  the  fighting  of  that  age  was  child's  play  compared  to 
the  warfare  of  the  present  day,  this  axiom  of  war  has  only  become 
more  iuteusitied. 


xxiii.]  MARIA   SAL VI ATI  227 

soldier's  profession  enabled  him  to  discern,  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere,  though  he  had  begun  as  a  leader 
of  cavalry,  very  early  in  his  career  changed  to 
being  an  infantry  commander,  and  remained  such 
for  the  rest  of  his  life.  As  a  consequence  he 
became,  we  are  told,  "  the  first  commander  under 
whom  the  infantry  began  to  acquire  fame  since 
the  time  of  the  Roman  legions." 

The  result  of  these  two  courses  of  action  was 
that  his  infantry  became  such  as  no  infantry  had 
been  for  many  centuries,  and  won  for  him  the 
name  of  "  The  Invincible "  at  only  twenty-two, 
while  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-eight  he  had 
become  the  greatest  commander  in  Italy. 

MARIA   SALVIATI 

Born  1499.     (Married  1516.)     Died  1543. 

JMaria  Salviati,^  daughter  of  Jacopo  Salviati  and 
his  wife,  Lucrezia  de'  Medici,  and  granddaughter 
of  Lorenzo  the  JNIagnificent,  is  one  of  the  most 
attractive  characters  of  the  age,  though  she 
lived  in  the  worst  time  in  Florentine  history. 
Married  at  seventeen  to  Giovanni  de'  Medici 
(soon  to  become  known  as  Giovanni  delle  Bande 
Nere),  who  had  been  brought  up  with  her  from 
the  time  that  she  was  ten  and  he  eleven  years 
old,  she  made  him  a  most  excellent  wife.  Slie 
was  of  an  exceedingly  affectionate  disposition  ;  she 
was  a  virtuous  woman  in  an  age  when  it  was 
the  exception ;  and  she  was  no  less  noteworthy 
for  her  strong  sense,  wisdom,  and  capacity.     She 

'  Plate  XLVIII.     See  remarks  in  regard  to  tliis  piutrait  and  tliat 
showu  ill  Plate  XLVl.  (p.  211,  footuote). 


228  MARIA   SALVIATI  [chap. 

helped  Giovanni  in  all  his  difficulties,  and  whereas 
lie  was  from  his  fiery  and  headstrong  nature  always 
ready  to  become  involved  in  some  trouble,  she 
was  ever  on  the  watch  from  a  distance,  displaying 
a  wonderful  forethought,  and  sending  him  sound 
ad\  ice  which  saved  him  from  many  quarrels.  Her 
letters  to  him,  many  of  which  are  preserved  in 
the  State  archives  of  Florence,  are  models  of  sense, 
wdsdom,  and  the  strongest  affection  combined. 
Her  portrait  by  Vasari  (Plate  XLVHI.)  is  sure 
to  be  a  good  likeness,  as  he  knew  her  well. 

While  Giovanni  was  absent  on  his  almost 
perpetual  campaigns  she  remained  living  in  her 
father's  palace  in  the  Corso  at  Florence,  where 
in  1519  her  son,  Cosimo,  was  born.  During  the 
next  three  years,  Giovanni,  having  attained  com- 
mand of  a  troop,  was  mounting  by  rapid  steps 
in  his  profession,  and  gaining  great  distinction 
owing  to  his  invariable  success  wherever  employed, 
so  that  the  occasions  when  he  was  able  to  be 
with  her  were  few.  And  when  in  1523  Pope 
Adrian  VI.  was  succeeded  by  Clement  VII.  this 
became  still  more  the  case.  By  this  time  her 
young  husband,  all  whose  youthful  aspirations 
she  had  shared  as  a  girl,  had  become  one  of  the 
most  renowned  commanders  in  Italy,  and  she  saw 
less  and  less  of  him.  But  this  did  not  in  any  way 
prevent  his  being  her  one  consideration  at  all 
times,  and  wherever  we  hear  of  her  she  seems  to 
have  no  other  care  or  interest  but  his  well-being. 
Her  life  had  in  it  much  sadness,  for,  seeing  plainly 
Pope  Clement's  manoeuvres  to  oust  Giovanni  from 
his  rights  and  to  keep  him  always  in  the  field  in 
the  hope  that  he  would  eventually  get  killed,  she 


PLATE   XIAIII. 


.•MAHi.v   sAi,\iAri,   \viiK  oi    (ii()\A.\M    i)i:r.r.i;  itwrn:   nkim:. 
liy  \';isari. 


xxiii]         HER    ATTRACTIVE   CHARACTER  229 

yet  found  it  impossible  to  get  Giovanni  to  guard 
his  own  interests,  while  she  also  lived  in  perpetual 
dread  of  hearing  of  his  death.  And  the  higher  he 
rose  in  his  profession,  and  the  more  the  cloud  of 
w^ar  spread  over  northern  Italy  (as  it  did  almost  un- 
interruptedly during  the  last  three  years  of  his  life), 
the  more  impossible  did  it  become  for  Giovanni 
to  give  any  attention  to  his  domestic  affairs,  or  to 
be  with  the  wife  who  loved  him  so  devotedly. 

Maria  Salviati  reveals  herself  completely  to  us 
in  her  letters,  and  the  more  we  see  of  her  the 
more  attractive  she  becomes.  M.  Gautier  calls 
her,  "  This  wife  who  remained  always  a  lover  ;  a 
modern  woman  of  passion  and  nerves,  out  of 
place  among  these  suits  of  armour,  these  swords, 
and  noises  of  war."  ^  And  again  and  again,  after 
quoting  long  extracts  from  her  letters,  he  exclaims: 
"  Such  tenderness,  such  womanly  words  ! "  In  a 
touching  letter  to  Giovanni  in  reference  to  a 
quarrel  he  had  got  into,  she  implores  him  to  keep 
out  of  such  broils,  and  "  not  to  destroy  us  both  by 
these  frequent  quarrels,"  and  signs  herself  "  Your 
desolate  wife,  who  commends  herself  to  you  wdth 
face  covered  with  tears."  At  the  same  time  she 
is  far  from  being  weak ;  and  one  knows  not  whicli 
to  admire  the  most,  her  great  love  for  her  warrior 
husband,  her  pleading  tenderness,  her  gentle  re- 
proach, her  ceaseless  solicitude  for  his  welfare,  or 
her  sagacious  wisdom  and  strong  common-sense. 
The  tender  pathos  of  many  of  her  letters  is  in- 
describable. She  knew  that  in  the  years  before 
lie  was  twenty-five  he  was,  w^hile  absent  at  Rome, 
often  unfaithful  to  her,  and  that  she  was  supplanted 

'  Jean  dea  Bande>i  Xoires,  by  M.  Pierre  Gautier. 


i230  MARIA   SALVIATI  [chap. 

by  low  rivals.  And  in  her  letters  written  at  that 
time  it  is  the  peculiar  combination  of  this  know- 
ledge (of  which  she  speaks  openly),  of  tender 
reproach  to  him  for  treating  her  so,  and  yet  of 
an  unswerving  affection,  care  for  his  welfare,  and 
sensible  advice  to  keep  him  out  of  this  or  that 
quarrel,  which  makes  them  so  singularly  touching. 

Giovanni  spent  nearly  all  his  private  funds  on 
his  troops,  and,  as  previously  noted,  Maria  was 
continually  occupied  in  providing  what  he  required, 
though  it  was  often  difficult  to  find  the  necessary 
money.  And  that  he  thus  relied  upon  her  to 
purchase  for  him  such  things  as  horses,  arms,  and 
other  mihtary  equipment  shows  how  well  he  knew 
her  sound  sense  and  judgment. 

At  last  the  news  came  which  she  had  all  along 
dreaded,  and  she  heard  of  his  being  mortally 
wounded,  which  news  was  foUow^ed  almost 
immediately  by  that  of  his  death.  His  friend, 
Pietro  Aretino,  writes  to  her  of  how  he  had  him- 
self put  Giovanni's  body  in  its  coffin,  telling  her 
of  his  own  great  grief,  which,  howe\'er,  he  says, 
must  be  far  less  than  hers.  He  describes  the 
funeral  at  Mantua,  and,  with  a  fine  touch  of 
sympathy  for  the  desolate  wife,  speaks  of  how 
"  the  women  gazed  from  the  windows  with  awe 
and  reverence  upon  the  honoured  forin  of  him  who 
was  your  husband,  signora,  and  my  lord."  Maria 
replies  by  a  striking  letter,  dignified  and  sensible, 
saying  what  a  comfort  it  had  been  to  her  through- 
out the  campaign  to  feel  that  he  was  witli  her 
husband ;  and  then  she  urges  him  to  write  the 
history  of  her  husband's  life,  suggesting  that  he 
shall  write  the  history  of  its  last  fourteen  years, 


xxin]  FEARS   FOR    HER   SON  231 

and  she,  with  the  help  of  her  father,  will  write  that 
of  the  first  fourteen  years.  ^  And  she  ends  by  a 
request  that  he  "  will  commend  myself  and  my 
poor  Cosimo  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  who  has 
been  so  kind."  Reading  these  letters  of  Maria's, 
it  is  nard  to  realise  that  it  is  all  so  long  ago ;  we 
feel  that  it  might  have  liappened  yesterday.  Here, 
as  so  often,  we  feel  how  much  closer  the  sixteenth 
century  is  to  us  than,  e.g.,  the  eighteenth. 

For  the  next  ten  years  (1527-1537) — i.e.,  during 
the  three  years  of  the  revolt  of  Florence  from 
Pope  Clement,  the  year  of  the  siege,  and  the 
reign  of  Alessandro  as  Duke — Maria  Salviati  lived 
in  the  greatest  retirement  at  Trebbia,  in  the 
Mugello,  about  twenty  miles  from  Florence, 
devoting  herself  to  the  education  of  her  son, 
Cosimo.  The  only  occasion  on  which  she  came 
out  of  this  retirement  was  in  1533,  when,  as 
Catherine  de'  Medici's  nearest  relative,  she  accom- 
panied the  latter  to  Marseilles  for  lier  marriage. 
Maria  lived  this  retired  life  for  two  reasons  ;  not 
only  was  she  left  very  badly  off,  most  of  their 
patrimony  having  been  absorbed  by  her  husband's 
military  necessities,  but  also  slie  lived  in  constant 
fear  for  her  son  now  that  the  elder  brancli  had 
no  legitimate  male  descendant,  knowing  well  that 
both  Pope  Clement  and  Alessandro  were  utterly 
unscrupulous,  and  looked  with  no  friendly  eye  on 
one  whose  existence  might  be  supposed  to  be  an 
obstacle  to  Alessandro's  being  ruler  of  Florence. 
The  only  other  male  representative  of  the  younger 
branch  besides  her  son  was  Ivorenzino ;  and 
Alessandro    knew    that    the    latter    possessed    no 

^  It  is  a  pity  that  Maria's  excellent  suggestion  was  not  carried  out. 


232  MARIA   SAL VI ATI  [chap. 

influence,  and  would  never  set  up  any  claim  to 
the  rule  of  Florence.  But  it  might  be  otherwise 
Avith  a  son  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,  to  whom 
his  father's  name  and  reputation  would  give  plenty 
of  adherents.  Not  that  Maria  had  any  desire  at 
all  that  such  claims  should  be  put  forward*  on 
behalf  of  her  son  ;  her  gallant  soldier's  death  ended 
all  life  for  her ;  and  she  felt  a  complete  repugnance 
for  the  strivings  of  ambition  and  worldly  honours. 
She  became  a  member  of  the  Third  Order  of  St 
Dominic,  giving  herself  up  to  charitable  works ; 
and  she  kept  her  son  out  of  sight  of  Florence 
and  its  affairs,  training  him  to  take  pleasure  in 
field  sports  and  a  country  life,  and  secluding  him 
so  effectually  as  far  as  Florence  was  concerned 
that  the  mass  of  the  citizens  scarcely  knew  that 
such  a  youth  existed. 

The  poverty  to  which  she  had  been  reduced 
is  shown  by  a  letter  of  hers  written  in  1530  to 
Filippo  Strozzi,  the  wealthy  banker,  and  head  of 
the  Strozzi  family,  who  was  one  of  her  creditors. 
She  says  :^ 

"  Magnificent  and  much  respected  Sir, — We 
are,  my  son  and  I,  to  that  degree  impoverished 
and  broken  down,  not  only  by  private  debts  but 
by  those  due  to  the  Government,  that  we  are  in  a 
desperate  position,  unless  we  can  find  some  one 
who  will  assist  us  until  we  can  get  breathing  time. 
We  therefore  suppliantly  entreat  your  magnificence 
that  if  the  other  creditors  press  and  crush  us  you 
will  have  the  more  pity  on  us ;  and,  as  you  have 
had  from  us  two  hundred  ducats  up  to  this  time, 
that  you  will  be  content  to  bear  with  us  for  this 
year.  I  declare  to  you  on  my  faith  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  do  more ;  and  I  will  use  every 


xxiii.]  LETTER   TO   FILIPPO   STROZZl  S33 

effort  to  meet  you  in  such  a  manner  as  you  will 
find  satisfactory  at  the  end  of  the  time  named.  I 
implore  and  beseech  your  excellency,  and  with  all 
my  heart  beg  of  you,  not  to  deny  us  this  favour. 
For  should  you  decide  otherwise,  and  determine 
on  pressing  us,  I  know  of  no  means  of  meeting 
your  claim.  We  will  not  the  less  strive  our 
utmost  to  put  together  another  two  hundred 
ducats  within  this  year,  if  it  be  any  way  possible, 
and  if  you  will  not  have  patience  with  us  for  the 
entire  debt.  Our  gratitude  will  be  greater  should 
you  giv^e  us  one  year's  time  for  the  whole  sum. 
Yet  it  will  be  no  less  if  you  will  content  yourself 
with  the  two  hundred  ducats.  I  will  say  no 
more,  save  that  Cosimo  and  I  commend  ourselves 
earnestly  to  your  magnificence. 

Your  cousin  and  sister, 
Maria  Salviati  de'  Medici." 

At  length,  when  Maria  had  been  a  widow  for 
ten  years,  and  when  her  son  Cosimo  was  seventeen 
and  a  half  years  old,  there  occurred  in  January 
1537  Duke  Alessandro's  sudden  assassination ;  ^ 
whereupon  her  son  suddenly,  and  without  consult- 
ing her,  made  his  bold  bid  for  power.^  His  mother 
liked  neither  the  thing  itself  nor  his  methods,  and 
endeavoured  to  persuade  him  to  abandon  the  course 
on  which  he  had  embarked  ;  which  greatly  enraged 
him.  And  the  cruelty  which  a  few  months  later 
he  displayed  against  those  who  had  opposed  him 
still  more  deeply  pained  his  gentle  -  spirited  and 
high-minded  mother,  strengthening  her  strong  dis- 
approval of  his  whole  course  of  action.  This  caused 
a  complete  estrangement  between  them ;  from  the 
time  he  became  Duke  of  Florence  he  never  went 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  506. 

2  ;See  chaij.  x.\iv.  pp.  236-237. 


234  MARIA   SALVIATI  [chap.  xxm. 

near  her ;  and  she  suffered  many  things  from 
his  harsh  and  unlovely  disposition.  On  her  son 
becoming  head  of  the  State,  she  removed  from 
Trebbia  to  the  villa  at  Castello,  where  her  husband 
had  lived  as  a  boy,  and  there  resided  during  the 
remaining  six  years  of  her  life,  seldom  seeing  any 
one,  and  devoting  herself  to  religion  and  good 
works.  Her  son's  conduct  was  the  last  drop  of 
sadness  in  a  life  which  had  been  always  sad ;  while 
we  are  told  that  Cosimo  displayed  towards  her 
"  such  an  utter  want  of  affection  that  even  when 
she  was  lying  ill  at  the  villa  of  Castello,  and  he 
was  shooting  in  the  vicinity,  he  could  hardly  be 
persuaded  to  relinquish  the  pleasures  of  the  chase 
for  a  single  day  to  visit  her  on  her  death-bed." 
A  few  days  later  her  gentle  spirit  passed  away. 

Maria  Salviati  died  at  Castello  in  1543,  six 
years  after  her  son  became  Duke  of  Florence,  and 
was  buried  dressed  in  the  habit  of  the  Third  Order 
of  St  Dominic.  In  after  years  her  remains  were 
removed  from  their  first  resting-place  to  be  laid 
beside  those  of  her  husband  when  brought  from 
Mantua.^  When  the  Medici  coffins  were  opened 
in  1857  her  body  was  found  unimpaired ;  her 
coffin  bore  only  her  simple  name  "  Maria."  ^  She 
and  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  lie  side  by  side 
in  the  centre  of  the  crypt  of  the  great  family 
mausoleum,  with  round  them  their  descendants, 
the  grand  dukes  and  grand  duchesses,  princes  and 
princesses,  of  Tuscany. 

'  Chap.  xxix.  p.  470. 

^  "Thcboflywas  found  embalmed,  and  Avas  dressed  in  black  as  a 
nun.  The  head  rested  on  :wo  bricks.  Upon  the  coffin  among  many 
crosses  was  inscribed  the  name  '  Maria. '  "  {Official  Report  un  the  ejcamina- 
tion  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mauso'eum.     1867.) 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

COSIMO    I. 

Bom  1519.      j  ^'^Ti'^      ^nz.     /t     ^'^^'^'I'Zt  ]     Died  h^. 
\   Created  Gra7id  IhiJce  of  Tuscany,  \tjGO  J 

When  on  the  5th  January  1537  Alessandros 
sudden  death  took  place,  all  was  for  some  days  in 
great  confusion,  since,  the  Signoria  having  been 
abolished,^  Florence  was  left  by  the  Duke's  death 
without  any  government.  Moreover,  there  were 
none  left  on  whom  it  devolved  to  form  one.  Pope 
Clement  VII.,  Ippolito,  and  now  Alessandro, 
w^ere  all  dead ;  no  male  descendant  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  Medici  family  remained ;  neither 
the  Strozzi,  Guicciardini,  Ridolfi,  nor  any  other 
family  in  Florence  felt  themselves  capable  of 
assuming  the  place  which  had  been  taken  by  the 
Medici;  while  the  reigning  Pope  (Paul  III.)  had 
no  particular  interest  in  Florentine  affairs.  So 
that  there  seemed  no  reason  why  Florence  should 
not  reinstate  her  Republic  ;  and  as  those  in  charge 
of  the  fortresses  were  ready  to  agree  to  it,  every- 
thing appeared  to  point  to  this  course.  It  was, 
however,  not  adopted.  The  Council  called  the 
Forty-eight  still  nominally  existed,  though  under 
Alessandro  it  had  had  no  power;  and  whilst  its 
leading  members  were  discussing  the  situation,  and 
before  anything  definite  had  been  decided  upon, 
there  appeared  in  Florence  from  the  district  of  the 
JNIugello  an  almost  unknown  youth  of  seventeen, 

^  Vol.  i.  p.  478. 

235 


236  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

Cosimo,  son  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,  accom- 
panied by  one  or  two  attendants.  Failing  Lorenzino 
liimself,  who  had  fled  and  made  no  claim  to  the 
rule,  this  youth  was  (supposing  a  republic  was  not 
going  to  be  set  up)  rightfully  heir  to  the  succession  ; 
while  from  one  point  of  view  his  claim  might  be 
considered  superior  to  any  which  could  be  put 
forward  on  behalf  of  Lorenzino,  in  that,  his  mother 
being  a  granddaughter  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
both  branches  of  the  JNIedici  united  in  him.^ 

This  youth,  by  his  artful  assumption  of  a 
humble  demeanour,  by  the  little  that  was  known 
of  him  seeming  to  indicate  that  he  was  not  likely 
to  take  a  prominent  part  in  affairs  of  State,  and 
by  his  promises  that  if  he  were  appointed  to  the 
rule  all  power  should  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
Council,  induced  the  chief  senators  to  accept  him 
as  the  head  of  the  State.  We  are  told  that  he 
"  concealed  his  ambition  under  so  humble  and  sub- 
missive a  demeanour  as  to  provoke  the  contempt 
of  his  friends."  The  four  principal  senators 
Guicciardini,  Strozzi,  Valori,  and  Acciajuoli,  were 
completely  taken  in,  and  chose  him  with  the  idea 
that  he  was  a  youth  of  little  character,  whose  in- 
terests chiefly  centred  in  shooting  and  field  sports, 
and  that  he  would  be  a  nonentity,  and  would  leave 
them  to  rule  the  country.  Accordingly  he  was 
elected  as  chief  of  the  State,  it  being  definitely  laid 
down  that  all  power  was  to  rest  with  the  Council. 
A  bas-relief  showing  this  episode  is  to  be  seen  on 
the  pedestal  of  the  equestrian  statue  of  Cosimo  L 
in  the  Piazza  della  Signoria,  and  very  faithfully 
reproduces   the    unassuming    attitude   which   was 

*  See  Appendix  I. 


PLATK   XLTX, 


THE    COlTNCiri    OFKKHI.Vi;    COSIMO    THK    RILK    (IK    ir,ORK.\(  K 

H;i>-rcli('l' li\'  (ii.iii  il;i  l>ulni:ii.i. 


IJnif/i] 


XXIV.]  THE    MASK   THROWN   OFF  237 

adopted  by  Cosimo.^  Thus  did  Francesco  Guic- 
ciardini,  Filippo  Strozzi,  Baccio  Valori,  and  Niccolo 
Acciajuoli,  in  order  to  obtain  their  own  personal 
ends,  deHver  over  their  country  to  an  iron-handed 
tyrant ;  Guicciardini,  the  chief  of  them,  mainly  so 
acting  because  he  hoped  that  Cosimo  would  marry 
his  daughter  Lisabetta,  and  that  he  (Guicciardini) 
would  rule  Florence  while  the  young  head  of  the 
State  amused  himself  They  all  had  bitter  cause 
in  a  very  short  time  to  repent  their  action.  Simul- 
taneously with  this  election  a  decree  was,  at 
Cosimo's  request,  passed  by  the  Council  putting 
the  whole  of  Lorenzino's  branch  out  of  the  suc- 
session  in  consequence  of  his  murder  of  Alessandro, 
Cosimo  pointing  out  that  this  was  advisable  in 
order  to  make  his  position  unimpeachable. 

No  sooner,  however,  was  Cosimo  installed  as 
chief  of  the  State  than  he  threw  off  the  mask 
which  he  had  worn.  He  cast  all  these  councillors 
aside,  assumed  absolute  authority,  and  showed 
himself  in  his  true  colours  as  an  arbitrary  tyrant 
who  intended  to  rule  by  fear.  He  soon  became 
the  most  dreaded  man  in  Florence. 

Of  course,  such  an  entire  reversal  of  all 
that  had  been  contemplated  was  bound  to  issue 
in  a  struggle.  Before  many  months  were  over 
Cosimo's  tyrannical  actions  had  driven  a  large 
number  of  the  citizens  into  voluntary  exile,  in- 
cluding Filippo  Strozzi  and  Baccio  Valori,'  and 
by  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1537  these  juor- 
usciti  had  assembled    an   army   to    dethrone  him, 

1  Plate  XLIX. 

'^  Francesco  Guicciardini  did  not  join  the  rest,  but  retired  from 
Florence  in  disgust  to  his  villa  iu  Arcetri,  and  occupied  himself  iu 
writing  his  celebrated  history. 


238  COSIMO   I.  [chap 

for  Avhich  purpose  they  had  also  gained  the  help 
of  a  considerable  body  of  French  troops.  The 
main  portion  of  their  forces  consisted  of  four 
thousand  infantry  and  three  hundred  cavalry 
commanded  by  Filippo  Strozzi's  eldest  son,  Piero 
Strozzi,  already  a  distinguished  soldier.  Mean- 
while Cosimo  had  also  got  together  a  force, 
and  by  representing  himself  as  the  successor  of 
the  Emperor's  vassal  Alessandro,  had  obtained 
the  assistance  of  the  imperial  troops  in  Tuscany. 
His  w^hole  force  was  under  the  command  of 
Alessandro  Vitelli.  The  battle  to  decide  the  fate 
of  Tuscany  was  fought  at  Montemurlo,  near 
Prato,  on  the  1st  August  1537 ;  it  resulted  in 
Vitelli's  gaining  a  victory  which  saved  Cosimo,  and 
delivered  all  his  opponents  into  his  hands.  Vittelli's 
success  was  chiefly  due  to  a  fortunate  accident. 
The  body  of  troops  attacked  by  him  were  in  reality 
only  the  advanced  guard  of  the  enemy's  force,  then- 
main  body  under  Piero  Strozzi  being  away  at  a 
distance  in  the  mountains ;  but  with  the  body 
defeated  by  Vitelli  were  Filippo  Strozzi,  Baccio 
Valori,  and  all  the  principal  men  of  the  party 
opposed  to  Cosimo,  all  of  whom  were  captured. 
The  main  body  with  Piero  Strozzi  only  heard  of 
the  defeat  of  the  troops  at  Montemurlo,  with  the 
capture  of  all  the  leaders,  when  the  battle  was 
over  and  it  was  too  late  to  do  anything;  and 
Piero  Strozzi  had  no  course  but  to  retire.  The 
column  which  stands  in  the  Piazza  St  Trinita,  sur- 
mounted by  a  fine  figure  of  Justice,  was  erected 
by  Cosimo^  to  conmiemorate  this  victory  of 
Montemurlo  which  gave  him  his  throne. 

'  It  was  erected  about  twenty-five  years  afterwards.  The  column 
came  from  tlie  Baths  of  Caracalla  in  Rome,  and  was  presented  to  Cosimo 
by  Pope  I'ius  IV.,  who  was  Pope  from  1559-1564. 


XXIV.]  THE   BARGELLO  239 

Of  all  the  buildings  in  Florence  one  ^-iie 
possesses  a  more  solemn  interest  than  any  E^^&eiio. 
other — interest  of  the  same  kind  as  attaches  to  the 
Tower  of  London — namely,  the  gloomy  citadel 
of  the  Bargello.^  Terrible  have  been  the  scenes 
which  its  courtyard  (the  place  of  execution)  and 
surrounding  cells  have  witnessed  ;  piteous  the  cries 
with  which  its  torture-chamber,  now  the  armoury 
(where  is  the  only  oubliette-  in  Florence),  has 
resounded ;  heart-breaking  the  grief  endured  in 
the  open  loggia  ^  overlooking  the  courtyard  where 
so  many  bitter  wrongs  ha\  e  had  their  cruel  end- 
ing." None  can  climb  its  picturesque  staircase,  or 
traverse  its  halls,  insensible  to  the  tragic  memories 
which  cling  round  this  ancient  fortress  of  the 
Podestk  of  Florence,  where  so  many  who  were 
notable  have  taken  their  last  look  on  life.  And 
the  victory  of  Montemurlo  added  many  to  these 
sad  memories  which  attach  to  the  Barerello.  For 
Cosimo  had  set  up  a  despotism  no  less  severe 
than  that  of  the  kings  of  England  and  France  of 

1  Plate  L. 

^  Its  trap-door  is  near  the  central  pillar  of  the  hall.  Out  of  it  were 
tiikeri  a  large  number  of  human  bones. 

•'  Whence  George  Eliot  describes  Romola  watching  the  execution 
of  her  godfather. 

•*  This  applies  to  the  period  of  the  Podesta  (1200-1494),  and  of  his 
successor,  the  Bargello,  or  head  of  the  police  (1537-1782),  from  whom 
the  building  takes  its  present  name  ;  but  does  not  apply  to  the  \cars 
1494-1637,  during  which  period  the  Bargello  (or  Executor  of  .Ju>tice) 
resided,  and  carried  out  e.\e(nitions  and  torture,  in  a  building  which 
now  forms  the  back  part  of  the  Palazzo  V^ecchio,  and  had  its  entrance 
in  the  Via  de'  Gondi.  And  it  was  in  this  latter  building,  and  not  in 
the  present  Bargello,  that  in  1497  liernardo  del  Xero  was  put  to  deatli. 
Cosimo  I.  removed  the  Executor  of  Justice  (the  Bargello)  to  the  old 
citadel  of  the  Podesta,  which  thus  again  became  the  chief  prison  and 
place  of  execution,  and  remained  so  during  the  rest  of  Florentine 
history.  The  scaffold  was  by  the  well  in  the  centre  of  tlie  courtyard. 
It  and  all  the  instruments  of  torture  were  burnt  by  the  (Jrand  Duke 
Pietro  Leopoldo  in  1782. 


240  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

that  time ;  and  to  be  consigned  to  the  Bargello 
was  apt  to  be  as  fatal  to  the  person  concerned  as 
to  be  committed  to  the  Tower  or  to  the  Bastille. 

The  prisoners  taken  at  Montemurlo  were  very 
numerous  and  of  high  rank,  for  there  was  scarcely 
one  of  the  leading  families  of  Florence  which  had 
not  some  member  among  them,  or  a  Florentine 
student  at  Bologna  or  Padua  who  had  not  joined 
Filippo  Strozzi  and  Baccio  Valori  in  this  attempt. 
Many  of  them  were  quite  young,  and  not  a  few 
were  Cosimo's  personal  friends ;  but  they  received 
no  mercy,  for  in  Cosimo  that  quality  w^as  non- 
existent. The  cells  of  the  Bargello  were  crowded 
with  prisoners  of  distinction  ;  and  when  the  Bargello 
could  hold  no  more,  the  remainder  were  sent  to  the 
Fortezza.  The  prisoners  were  executed  in  batches 
day  after  day,  while  the  halls  rang  with  the  cries 
of  the  tortured ;  not  one  was  pardoned ;  all  were 
in  turn  first  tortured  and  then  executed.  Baccio 
Valori  and  his  son,  with  young  Albizzi,  were 
among  those  thus  put  to  death  at  the  Bargello. 
Filippo  Strozzi,  confined  in  irony  in  the  Fortezza, 
to  build  which  he  had  provided  the  funds,  was 
either  put  to  death  there,  or  committed  suicide  to 
escape  further  torture,  his  body  being  found  in 
his  cell  transfixed  with  a  sword.  Thus  ended  the 
rich,  handsome,  and  accomplished  courtier  and 
banker,  Filippo  Strozzi,^  the  husband  of  Clarice 
de  Medici,  and  the  friend  of  popes  and  kings,  to 
whom  only  seven  years  before  Cosimo's  mother 
had  written  that  humble  petition  on  behalf  of 
Cosimo  and  herself  for  time  in  which  to  pay  their 

^  There  is  a  fine  portrait  of  Filippo  Strozzi  by  Titian  at  \'ienna. 


XXIV.]  UNUSUAL   CHARACTER  24l 

debt.  Cosimo  confiscated  the  Strozzi  palace  in 
the  Via  Tornabuoni  and  the  whole  or  FiHppo 
Strozzi's  possessions.^  Piero  il  Gottoso  seventy- 
years  before  had  contrived  to  put  down  an  armed 
rebelhon  against  himself  without  the  sacrifice  of 
a  single  life ;  Cosimo  I.  seemed  anxious  to  create 
the  greatest  contrast  possible,  for  of  all  the  enemies 
who  fell  into  his  hands  he  did  not  spare  a  single 
life.  No  wonder  that  Maria  Salviati,  looking  with 
horror  on  these  proceedings  of  her  son  which  she 
was  powerless  to  prevent,  shut  herself  up  in  deepest 
seclusion  at  the  villa  of  Castello. 

Cosimo  was,  in  fact,  a  most  unusual  character. 
Neither  his  mother  nor  any  of  those  around  him 
up  to  the  age  of  seventeen  were  in  the  least 
prepared  for  the  action  which  he  then  suddenly 
took.  The  bold  stroke  by  which  he  seized  upon 
the  rule  of  Florence  astounded  Maria  Salviati, 
and  was  as  great  a  revelation  of  character  to  her 
as  to  every  one  else.  How  completely  he  had 
contrived  to  hide  his  real  nature  from  all  those 
who  knew  him  as  a  boy^  is  shown  by  the  case 
of  Filippo  Strozzi,  who,  though  he  had  been  on 
intimate  terms  with  him  and  his  mother  while 
they  resided  at  Trebbia,  was  nevertheless  as  much 
taken  in  as  the  other  senators.  Cosimo  is  perhaps 
the  only  instance  on  record  of  a  boy,  hitherto 
occupying  an  obscure  position,  given  up  to  sport 
and  a  country  life,  and  thought  to  have  little 
capacity,  suddenly  casting  aside  every  boyish  taste, 
undertaking  the  arduous    labours  of  government, 

^  He  returned  the  palace  to  the  family  before  his  death. 

''  There  is  a  portrait  in  fresco  of  Cosimo  as  a  boy  on  the  wall  of  the 
Sala  di  (iiovanni  delle  Haiide  Nerc  in  the  I'alazzo  Veccliio,  painted  by 
his  contemi)orary  Viisari. 

VOL.    II.  Q 


«i42  COSIMO   I.  [fiiAP. 

seizing  the  rule  of  his  country  from  her  wisest 
and  ablest  men,  and  slaughtering  wholesale  her 
leading  citizens. 

But  although  Cosimo  thus  showed  himself 
a  cruel  and  merciless  tyrant,  in  his  subsequent 
history  he  manifested  extraordinary  abilities  ;  with 
results  for  which  his  country  had  every  reason  to 
be  grateful.  It  is,  indeed,  little  short  of  marvellous 
how  one  who,  silent  and  taciturn  by  nature,  had 
in  his  youth  been  considered  "  dull,"  "  timid," 
and  "wanting  in  character,"  yet  developed  the 
capacity  to  raise  Tuscany  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  political  importance  and  general  well  -  being 
which  she  ever  reached.  Tuscany,  which  ever 
since  the  time  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  under 
the  successive  maladministration  of  Soderini, 
Lorenzo  (Duke  of  Urbino),  Passerini,  the  Repub- 
lican Government  of  1527-1530,  and  Alessandro, 
had  for  over  forty  years  possessed  little  or  no 
political  importance  in  Italy,  was  by  Cosimo  I. 
raised  to  a  higher  position  in  this  respect  among 
the  states  of  Italy  than  she  had  occupied  even 
in  the  time  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  The 
glory  of  the  leadership  in  Art  and  Learning  was 
no  longer  hers ;  the  joy  and  brightness  of  the 
Renaissance  were  for  ever  passed  away,  over- 
whelmed in  the  wars  which  for  more  than  a 
generation  had  raged  over  Italy ;  but  in  so  far 
as  the  remaining  factors  of  political  influence, 
military  strength,  and  commercial  progress  were 
concerned,  Cosimo  I.  raised  Tuscany,  not  merely 
to  her  former  level,  but  beyond  it ;  so  much  so 
that  she  became  under  him  the  only  state  of  first- 


xxrv.]  ADVANCEMENT   OF  TUSCANY  243 

class  importance  in  Italy.  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae 
and  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  had  gloried  in 
advancing  the  boundaries  of  the  State,  but  under 
Cosimo  I.  Tuscany  was  almost  doubled  in  size ; 
while  at  the  same  time  the  conditions  in  regard 
to  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the  general 
advancement  of  the  country,  were  changed  from 
those  customary  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  those 
thought  necessary  in  modern  times.  And  Cosimo 
did  all  this  himself ;  for  his  principle  was  to  avoid 
taking  any  councillors,  and  throughout  his  life 
those  whom  he  employed  to  assist  him  were 
nothing  more  than  secretaries,  and  none  were 
given  a  sufficient  power  of  initiative  for  their 
names  to  have  obtained  any  record  in  history. 
They  were  invariably  men  of  a  humble  station 
in  life,  and  always  chosen  from  other  parts  of  the 
country  than  Florence. 

As  soon  as  Cosimo  had,  by  the  victory  of 
Montemurlo  and  the  execution  of  all  who  had 
opposed  him,  firmly  secured  his  power,  he  set  about 
arrangements  for  that  gradual  advancement  of 
his  position  which  he  had  set  before  him.  As 
yet  he  had  merely  been  elected  by  the  Floren- 
tines as  head  of  their  state ;  so  that  his  first  step 
was  to  endeavour  to  obtain  formal  recognition  of 
his  position  by  the  Emperor.  Representing  him- 
self as  willing  to  be  the  Emperor's  vassal,  and 
ready  to  promote  his  cause  in  every  way  against 
the  French  interest  in  Italy,  he  obtained  what  he 
sought,  the  Emperor  issuing  a  Diploma  which 
conferred  on  Cosimo  "  all  the  authority  formerly 
borne  and  exercised  by  Duke  Alessandro."     And 


244  COSIMO    I.  [chap. 

though  the  Diploma  did  not  categorically  confer 
on  Cosimo  the  title  of  Duke,  the  latter  from  this 
time  forth  always  signed  himself  "  Duca  di 
Fiorenza,"  to  which  no  exception  was  taken  by  the 
Emperor.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
notice  that  in  the  rooms  lately  reopened  on  the 
upper  floor  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  over  the 
sixteenth  century  fireplace  in  Cosimo's  room  his 
title  is  to  be  seen  inscribed  as  "  Cosimus  Florie 
Dux  II. " ;  showing  that  at  this  time  in  his  life 
(previous  to  his  obtaining  the  status  of  Grand 
Duke,  making  him  Cosimo  I.)  he  called  himself 
"Dux  II.,"  the  second  Duke  of  Florence,  the  first 
being  Alessandro. 

Cosimo's  next  step  was  to  set  about  arrange- 
ments for  a  marriage  such  as  would  contribute 
to  the  strength  of  his  position.  He  first 
endeavoured  strenuously  to  get  the  Emperor  to 
give  him  his  daughter  Margaret,  Alessandro's 
young  widow ;  but  this  Charles  V.  absolutely 
refused  to  do,  while  at  the  same  time  insist- 
ing on  Cosimo's  making  over  to  IMargaret  a 
very  large  portion  of  the  Medici  property,  much 
to  Cosimo's  indignation.  This  first  matrimonial 
project  having  failed,  the  latter  turned  elsewhere, 
and  in  1539  succeeded  in  arranging  a  marriage 
for  himself  with  Eleonora,  the  only  child  of  Don 
Pedro  di  Toledo,  Marquis  of  Villafranca  and 
Viceroy  of  Naples,  the  most  capable  and  trusted 
of  all  the  Emperor's  lieutenants,  who  ruled  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  from  1532  till  his  death  in  1553. 
Eleonora  di  Toledo  was  escorted  to  Florence 
by  Don  Pedro  himself,  and  they  were  met  by 
Cosimo    at  the   villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano,  fifteen 


xxiv]      OCCUPIES   THE   PALAZZO  VECCHIO        245 

miles  from  Florence.  The  Viceroy  of  Naples 
and  his  suite  were  lodged  during  their  stay  in 
Florence  in  the  monastery  of  St  Maria  Novella,^ 
and  after  many  festivities  Cosimo  and  Eleonora 
were  married  with  much  ceremony  in  the  church 
of  San  Lorenzo,  he  being  then  twenty  and  she 
seventeen.  Eleonora  was  very  rich,  and  her 
wealth,  together  with  the  political  influence  which 
Cosimo  gained  by  becoming  the  son-in-law  of  the 
Viceroy  of  Naples,  made  a  considerable  difference 
in  his  position.  The  portrait  of  Eleonora  by 
Bronzino  ^  on  the  wall  of  one  of  the  rooms  in  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio  shows  her  as  she  was  at  about  the 
age  of  twenty,  two  or  three  years  after  her  marriage. 
She  has  a  fine  broad  forehead  and  a  pleasing  face. 

Up  to  this  time  Cosimo  had  lived  in  the  Medici 
palace  in  the  Via  Larga ;  and  it  was  there  that  he 
brought  home  his  bride.  But  shortly  after  making 
this  marriage  Cosimo  removed  into  the  J'alazzo 
Vecchio,  having  the  rooms  on  the  second  floor, 
which  had  been  those  always  occupied  by  the 
Gonfaloniere,  handsomely  decorated  for  Eleonora's 
reception.  He  had  several  reasons  for  this  change 
of  residence,  but  his  principal  one  was  that  the 
Medici  palace  was  not  a  defensible  castle,  and 
possessed  no  accommodation  for  the  bodyguard 
of  troops  necessary  to  protect  his  person  ;  while 
his  occupation  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  which  for 
centuries  had  been  associated  in  the  minds  of  the 


^  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  well-known  "  Spanish  chapel " 
(formerly  the  chapter-iiouse)  in  the  (ireen  Cloister  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella  obtained  its  name,  owinj;;-  to  its  being'  marie  over  for  the  use 
of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples  and  his  numerous  suite  during  their  i-tay  in 
Florence. 

*=  Plate  LI. 


246  COSIMO    I.  [chap. 

Florentines  with  the  governins^  body,  not  only 
gave  him  a  more  secure  abode,  but  also  emphasised 
the  fact  that  he,  and  he  alone,  now  wielded  the 
entire  power  of  the  State. ^  Other  rulers  around 
him,  such  as  the  Este  at  Ferrara,  or  the  Gonzaga 
at  Mantua,  each  occupied  their  "  Castello  "  in  the 
centre  of  their  capital  city,  and  no  other  residence 
was  in  fact  suitable  for  a  despotic  ruler  such 
as  Cosimo  desired  all  men  to  recognise  that  he 
intended  to  be.  Immediately  at  the  door  of  his 
palace,  and  passed  daily  by  him,  stood  Donatello's 
statue  of  Judith  slaying  Holofernes,  with  the 
inscription  which  the  citizens  had  placed  on  it  "  as 
a  warning  to  all  who  might  attempt  to  tyrannise 
over  Florence";  and  this  Cosimo  suffered  to 
remain  as  it  was,  in  grim  irony  at  the  wide  con- 
trast between  the  sentiment  expressed  by  the 
inscription  and  the  rule  which  he  had  established. 
His  bodyguard  of  Swiss  lancers  he  placed,  during 
the  hours  that  they  were  on  duty,^  in  Orcagna's 
Loggia,  which  thus  acquired  the  name  by  which 
it  has  always  since  been  known  of  the  "  Loggia 
de'  Lanzi."  The  Palazzo  Vecchio  was  a  some- 
what restricted  and  gloomy  abode  for  Eleonora, 
but  Cosimo  had  other  plans  for  the  future,  and 
intended  arrano-ing  for  himself  and  Eleonora  a 
much  larger  and  grander  residence  later  on  when 
he  should  feel  sufficiently  firmly  estabhshed. 
Meanwhile,  by  incorporating  the  buildings  on  the 

*  From  which  it  is  noticeable  how  exactly  opposite  were  the  aims  of 
Cosimo  I.  to  those,  e.g.,  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  to  whose  principles 
nothing  would  have  been  more  repugnant  than  conduct  of  this  character  ; 
witness  his  dying  advice  to  his  son  Pietro. 

-  They  lived  in  barracks  situated  in  the  small  street  immediately 
behind  Orcagna's  Loggia,  the  Via  Lambertesca. 


PLATE  LI. 


I'LAIE   I. II. 


Jiivgi] 


(OSLMO    I. 
Hv  Hronziuo. 


[Pitt;  O'alferi/. 


xxrv]  HIS   POWER   ESTABLISHED  247 

eastern  side,  including  the  residences  of  the 
Esecutore  di  Giustizia  and  the  Capitano  dei  Fanti, 
he  considerably  enlarged  the  Palazzo  Vecchio ;  and 
he  and  Eleonora  lived  there  for  ten  years,  six  of 
their  eight  children  being  born  there.^ 

But  until  he  had  an  army  of  his  own,  inde- 
pendent alike  of  any  troops  lent  him  by  the 
Emperor  and  of  Florentine  levies,  Cosimo  could 
not  feel  secure.  Added  to  which  he  had  views  in 
the  future  of  extending  the  boundaries  of  Tuscany 
when  opportunity  should  offer,  and  for  this  a 
powerful  army  would  be  necessary.  He  there- 
fore gradually  raised  a  force  of  Swiss,  German, 
and  Italian  troops  (the  latter  recruited  from  other 
parts  of  Italy  than  Tuscany),  and  soon  had  a  small 
but  strong  army,  which  he  steadily  increased  in 
numbers.  In  order  to  strengthen  his  hold  on 
Florence  he  also  much  enlarged  the  Fortezza,  and 
augmented  the  number  of  troops  quartered  there. 

By  the  above  means  Cosimo  by  the  time  he  was 
twenty-one  had  firmly  established  himself  as  despotic 
ruler  of  Tuscany.  Bronzino's  portrait  of  him  in 
the  Pitti  Gallery-  (one  of  the  best  portraits  that 
Bronzino  ever  executed),  painted,  Vasari  tells  us, 
when  Cosimo  was  forty,  accords  closely  witli  the 
description  of  his  appearance  given  by  contemporary 
writers  ;  these  state  that  his  face  gave  no  indication 
of  the  great  abilities  which  he  possessed,  and  that 
he  had  "  a  dark  and  impenetrable  disposition,"  with 
a  power  of  fierce  and  relentless  anger,  all  tlie  more 
terrible  because  it  burnt  under  the  surface. 

Maria,  their  eldest  child,  was  horn  iu  the  Medici  palace  in  the 
Via  Larffa. 
•''  Plate  LII. 


248  COSIMO    I.  [cH.^p. 

For  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign  Cosimo 
was  chiefly  occupied  in  strengthening  his  position 
as  Duke  of  Florence.  The  three  main  factors 
in  European  pohtics  were,  as  before,  Francis  I., 
Charles  V.,  and  the  Pope  (Paul  III.).  During 
the  years  1536  and  1537  the  latter  had  continued 
to  labour  earnestly  to  bring  about  peace  between 
the  two  antagonists,^  but  for  some  time  without 
avail.  At  length  in  June  1538  he  got  both  Charles 
and  Francis  to  come  to  Nice ;  though  they  would 
not  meet,  and  the  Pope  had  to  conduct  negotia- 
tions by  personally  visiting  them  alternately.  So 
that  much  credit  is  due  to  him  for  the  success  he 
eventually  achieved  in  getting  them  to  agree  to 
a  truce  which  caused  a  cessation  of  the  conflict 
for  four  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  however, 
they  were  again  at  war,  and  Cosimo  had  to  choose 
his  side.  Abandoning  the  traditional  Florentine 
policy  of  alliance  with  France,  Cosimo  throughout 
his  reign  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  on  the  side 
of  the  Emperor,  opposing  the  operations  of  the 
French  in  Italy  on  all  occasions.  At  the  same 
time,  beginning  as  the  Emperor's  vassal,  he  gradu- 
ally purchased  his  independence.  When  the  war 
between  Francis  and  Charles  was  resumed  in  1542, 
and  five  separate  French  armies  invaded  Charles's 
territories,  the  Emperor,  to  raise  troops  to  meet 
this  attack,  borrowed  money  largely  from  Cosimo,^ 
who  in  return  obtained  the  withdrawal  of  the 
imperial  garrisons  from  Florence  and  Pisa.  The 
same  process  was  repeated  on  several  subsequent 
occasions,  Cosimo  taking  a  step  further  in  the 
same  direction  each  time  that  the  Emperor  was 

^  Vol.  i.  p.  502.  2  See  p.  280. 


XXIV.]      END   OF  THE   TRIANGULAR   DUEL         249 

in  need  of  funds,  until  he  attained  entire  inde- 
pendence. Nevertheless,  after  he  had  done  so  he 
still  continued  the  same  policy  of  always  sidincf 
with  the  Emperor  and  against  the  French,  so  that 
he  came  eventually  to  be  Charles  V.'s  mainstay 
in  Italy ;  while  the  accessions  of  territory  which 
from  time  to  time  the  Emperor  helped  him  to 
acquire,  by  increasing  Cosimo's  power  increased 
also  Charles's  feeling  of  seciu'ity  as  regards  Italy. 

In  1544  peace  was  for  a  time  made  between 
Francis  and  Charles  at  Crepy.  And  in  December 
1545  the  Council  of  the  Church  which  had  been 
talked  of  for  so  many  years  at  last  assembled  at 
Trent.  It,  however,  failed  to  possess  the  character 
which  had  been  intended ;  for  instead  of  the  two 
parties  in  the  dispute  being  present,  only  one  of 
them  was  represented  at  it,  neither  the  Church  of 
England  nor  the  Protestant  party  in  Germany  and 
France  sending  any  representatives  to  it.  So  that 
it  became  merely  a  Council  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  as  such  lost  all  interest  for  Europe  as  a  whole. 

In  1546  the  Strozzi  brothers,  who  had  never 
ceased  to  seek  vengeance  against  Cosimo  for  their 
father's  death,  made  an  attack  on  him,  with  the 
assistance  of  Francesco  Burlamacchi,  from  Lucca  ; 
but  the  attempt  failed.  In  1547  the  long  triangular 
duel,  which  had  lasted  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  came  to  an  end  by  the  death  in  the 
early  part  of  that  year  of  two  of  the  antagonists, 
Henry  VIII.  and  Francis  I.,^  just  when  Francis 
was  preparing  a  fresh  attack  upon  Charles.  This 
removal   of   his    two    rivals    materially    increased 

'  Henry  VIII.  died  in  January,  and  Francis  I.  in  Manli.      Luther 
died  in  the  same  year. 


250  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

Charles  V.'s  power,  as  all  states  in  Italy  soon  felt, 
and  in  particular  the  Pope.  The  attempt  of  the 
latter  to  introduce  the  Inquisition  (which  he  had 
established  in  Rome  in  1542)  into  Naples  was 
defeated,  Charles  refusing  to  allow  it.  The  Pope 
was  also  endeavouring  to  get  the  Council  of  Trent 
removed  to  some  city  in  Italy,  and  intriguing  for 
this  purpose  with  the  French  against  Charles  ;  but 
in  this,  as  in  all  his  undertakings,  he  found  a  strong 
opponent  in  Cosimo,  whose  state  of  Tuscany  was 
rapidly  becoming  the  strongest  in  Italy.  At  this 
time  we  find  Cosimo  tendering  remarkable  advice 
to  Charles  Y.,  urging  him,  in  a  letter  of  the  6th 
February  1547,  "to  use  his  power  for  a  complete 
reform  of  the  Church  through  the  Council,  taking 
away  the  tyranny  of  the  priests,  reducing  the 
power  of  the  Pope  to  its  proper  spiritual  limits, 
and  restoring  the  pure  faith  of  Christ  without  the 
abuses  that  had  grown  up  about  it."^  Whilst 
all  those  in  Italy  who  were  in  opposition  to  the 
Emperor  looked  naturally  to  the  Pope  for  assist- 
ance, "  in  the  young  Duke  Cosimo,"  says  Ranke, 
"  Paul  III.  found  the  very  man  best  fitted  to 
oppose  him."  And  Cosimo  himself,  in  a  letter 
about  this  time,  says : — 

"  The  Pope,  who  has  succeeded  in  so  many 
undertakings,  has  now  no  wish  more  earnest  than 
of  doing  something  in  Florence  as  well ;  he  would 
fain  estrange  this  state  from  tlie  Emperor,  but  this 
is  a  hope  he  shall  carry  with  him  to  his  grave." 

In  this  year,  1547,  Cosimo  managed  to  remove 
from  his  path  a  danger  which  had  from  the  first 

^  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  82. 


XXIV.]  MURDER   OF   LORENZIXO  251 

threatened  him.  The  decree  which  he  had  obtained 
at  the  time  of  his  election,  putting  Lorenzino's 
branch  of  the  family  out  of  the  succession,  still 
left  him  with  a  feeling  of  insecurity,  as  it  was 
always  open  to  bis  enemies  to  get  up  an  agitation 
to  dethrone  him  on  the  ground  that  Lorenzino 
was  the  lawful  head  of  the  family  and  the  rightful 
ruler  of  Florence.  Lorenzino's  death  was  there- 
fore much  to  be  desired,  and  Cosimo  had  long 
tried  to  achieve  it,  but  without  success.  Lorenzino, 
after  many  wanderings  in  France,  Turkey,  and 
other  countries,  had  eventually  settled  with  his 
mother,  Maria  Soderini,  at  Venice,  where  he  lived 
in  constant  fear  of  his  life,  knowing  that  Cosimo 
was  employing  the  most  skilled  assassins  to  dog 
his  steps.  Knowing  the  dangers  which  were  around 
him  in  the  narrow  little  streets,  he  seldom  trusted 
himself  anywhere  outside  his  house  except  in  a 
gondola.  At  length  one  night  in  1547  he  was 
caught  unawares  in  a  narrow  street  by  two  hired 
assassins  employed  by  Cosimo,  and  murdered. 
The  account  of  how  they  killed  him  was  related 
by  themselves,  and  may  be  read  in  full  detail  in 
various  records  of  the  time.  Cosimo's  plea  for  this 
act  was  that  lie  was  only  carrying  out  a  just  execu- 
tion of  I^orenzino  for  the  murder  of  Alessandro. 
Throughout  his  life  he  adopted  the  same  attitude 
on  this  subject.  Tlie  view  that  Lorenzino's  act 
was  inspired  by  a  desire  to  liberate  his  country, 
by  creating  sympathy  with  Lorenzino,  militated 
seriously  against  Cosimo's  usurpation  of  the  rule 
of  Florence ;  while  it  might  inspire  others  to 
similar  action  against  himself.  And  it  was  in 
order  to  excite  a  feeling  against  I^orenzino,  and  to 


252  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

extinguish,  if  possible,  the  above  view  of  his  act 
(though  no  other  reason  for  the  deed  could  ever 
be  produced),  that  Cosimo  on  coming  to  power 
had  tlie  house  broken  down,^  and  that  he  and 
his  successors,  the  Grand  Dukes,  endeavoured  in 
all  ways  to  heap  as  much  odium  as  possible  on 
Lorenzino's  name.  With  the  result  that  Lorenzino 
has  been  handed  down  to  us,  not  as  he  was  looked 
upon  by  his  contemporaries,  viz.,  as  "  the  Florentine 
Brutus,"  but  as  one  on  whom  every  abusive  epithet 
may  freely  be  cast. 

In  1548  Cosimo  succeeded  in  performing  an 
important  service  for  Charles  V.  The  republic  of 
Siena  had  revolted  from  the  latter,  driven  out  his 
representative  and  the  Spanish  garrison,  and  placed 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Pope. 
Cosimo  offered  to  mediate  between  the  two  parties, 
which  was  accepted  ;  and  he  was  so  successful  that 
he  Avas  able  to  pacify  the  Sienese,  and  arrange  an 
agreement  that  Siena's  ancient  form  of  govern- 
ment should  be  respected  by  the  Emperor,  while 
a  representative  of  the  latter  with  a  Spanish 
garrison  should  be  admitted. 

Eoth  France  and  the  Pope  were  nov/  preparing 
to  attack  the  Emperor,  and  he  w^as  strengthening 
himself  in  every  way  in  Italy  for  the  conflict.  As 
one  measure  to  that  end  the  harbour  of  Portoferrajo 
and  the  adjacent  district  in  the  island  of  Elba  w^as 
given  to  Cosimo,  and  he  in  a  short  time  made 
Portoferrajo  the  strongest  naval  station  in  the 
IVIediterranean.  He  was  also  allowed  to  occupy 
Piombino  for  a  time  to  assist  him  in  defending 
his  own  coast  line  near  Pisa,  and  gained  various 

'  Vol.  i.  [}.  510. 


XXIV.]  COSIMO'S   NEW  PA  J.  ACE  253 

accessions  of  territory  along  the  coast.  In  1549 
Pope  Paul  III.  died ;  and  since  his  successor, 
Julius  III.,  adopted  a  more  amicable  policy 
towards  the  Emperor,  this  tended  to  create  peace 
in  Italy. 

In  ten  years  from  the  time  of  his  ThePitti 
marriage  Cosimo  had  so  firmly  established  ^^^^^^  (i)- 
his  rule  that  he  felt  able  to  occupy  a  different  kind 
of  residence  from  the  Palazzo  Vecchio ;  while  this 
change  was  the  more  desirable  since  he  and 
Eleonora  had  now  seven  children,  the  eldest  of 
them  being  nine  years  old.  Accordingly  early 
in  1550  Cosimo,  imitating  the  ancestor  after  whom 
he  had  been  named,^  set  about  building  a  new 
palace  for  the  family,  that  which  is  now  the  royal 
palace  in  Florence ;  and  which,  though  known  to 
us  as  the  Pitti  Palace,"  was  (except  as  below) 
entirely  built  by  the  Medici,  and  was  their  home 
during  two  hundred  years. 

To  carry  out  this  purpose  Cosimo  bought,  with 
Eleonora's  money,  the  estate  covering  the  north- 
western slope  of  the  Boboli  hill,  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Arno,  together  with,  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  the  portion  of  the  palace  which  had  been 
begun,  more  than  eighty  years  before,  by  Luca 
Pitti,  but  which  that  family  had  never  had  money 
enough  to  finish.  This  when  Cosimo  bought  it 
consisted  only  of  the  small  centre  portion  of  the 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  65. 

2  The  name  "Pitti  Palace"  is  an  invention  of  morlcrn  times.     The 

Silace  was^  of  course  never  called  by  tills  name  in  tlie  time  of  tlie 
edici.  Throu<rh()iit  tlieir  time  their  palace  was  called  the  Ducal 
Palace,  the  Grand  Ducal  Palace,  or  latterly  (iu  the  time  of  Cosimo 
III.  and  Gian  Gustoue)  the  iloyal  Palace. 


254  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

present  building  embraced  by  the  three  centre  arches 
of  the  ground  floor  ^  and  the  seven  windows  above 
them ;  it  was  only  completed  up  to  the  top  of  the 
first  floor,  and  was  still  unroofed,  leaving  more 
than  half  the  building  (even  as  it  existed  in 
Cosimo  I.'s  reign)  to  be  completed.  Except  this 
small  nucleus  the  whole  of  the  palace  as  we  see  it 
was  built  by  the  Medici.  Cosimo,  assisted  by  his 
able  architect  Ammanati,  completed  this  centre 
portion  up  to  the  roof,  but  without  extending  it 
laterally ;  which  alone  suffices  to  show  that  the 
present  central  court  did  not  exist  even  in  his 
time.^  The  estate  and  the  unfinished  building 
upon  it  were  sold  to  Cosimo  by  Buonaccorso  Pitti 
for  9,000  gold  florins. 

It  is  generally  stated  that  the  Pitti  Palace 
is  built  on  the  design  which  had,  one  hundred 
years  before,  been  drawn  up  by  Brunelleschi  for 
Luca  Pitti.  But  this  (while  of  course  totally 
incorrect  as  regards  all  the  rest  of  the  palace  ^)  is 
an  error  even  as  regards  the  comparatively  small 
portion  of  it  which  formed  the  Ducal  palace  in 
Cosimo's  time,  and  which  scarcely  amounts  to  one 
sixth  of  the  whole  building.  For  Buonaccorso 
Pitti,  when  selling  the  property  was  unable  to 
supply  Cosimo  with  Brunelleschi's  design,  this 
having  in  the  lapse  of  years  been  lost.  Nor  even 
had  it  been  forthcoming  would  a  building  designed 
to  accommodate  an  ordinary  citizen  family  in 
1440  have  sufficed,  a  hundred  years  later,  for  the 
residence  of  the  Duke  of  Florence  and  his  court. 

^  All  three  of  these  were  at  that  time  doorways ;  the  only  windows 
on  the  ground  floor  were  the  four  small  square  barred  ones. 
^  See  p.  416  and  footnote. 
*  Hee  chap,  xxvii.  p.  375,  and  chap,  xxviii.  pp.  413-4] 7. 


PLATE  LIV. 


Alinari] 


A     I.Ai)\      Ml       IIIK     IM   (  AI,    (dlRT. 

(SliKwiiit;-  tlie  I'alace  as  (.•oinpk'ted  by  Cosinio  I.) 


Cffiu  Ga/la-;/. 


xxiv.]  ORIGINAL   DIMENSIONS  255 

Be  this  as  it  may,  Cosimo's  palace  when  completed 
consisted  only  of  the  comparatively  small  central 
portion  of  the  front  block  of  the  present  palace.^ 
When  thus  finished  by  him  it  was  a  plain  oblong 
building,  three  stories  high,  with  seven  windows 
on  the  front  which  faces  the  Via  Romana,  and 
without  either  the  central  court  or  the  two  great 
wings  on  either  side  of  the  latter  (running  back  at 
right  angles  to  the  fa^'ade)  which  now  form  the 
great  central  block  of  the  palace.^  Thus  in 
Cosimo's  and  Eleonora's  time  the  palace  had  a 
very  different  aspect  from  the  immense  building 
to  which  we  are  accustomed,  including  as  it  did 
only  that  portion  of  the  facade  ^  which  is  embraced 
by  the  seven  centre  windows.  This  is  remarkably 
corroborated  by  a  little  known  picture  occupying 
a  dark  corner  in  the  long  corridor  between  the 
Pitti  and  Uffizi  galleries/  It  shows  the  portrait 
of  a  lady  of  the  ducal  court  with,  in  the  back- 
ground, a  picture  of  the  ducal  palace,  demonstrating 
very  plainly  what  its  dimensions  were  in  the  time 
of  Cosimo  I.  The  picture,  owing  to  its  back- 
ground, is  labelled  "  A  lady  of  the  Pitti  family  " ; 
but  the  background  itself  refutes  this,  for  the 
palace  is  represented  as  completed  and  roofed^ 
which  at  once  proves  that  the  time  is  subsequent 
to  tliat  at  which  the  building  had  any  connection 
with  the  Pitti  family,  and  that  we  are  here  shown 
the  palace  as  it  was  after  being  completed  by 
Cosimo  I.  The  picture  consequently  represents, 
not  a  lady  of  the  Pitti  family,  but  "  A  lady  of  the 

'  (See  plan  shown  in  Appendix  XIV. 

^  ,s'w  mate  LXXIX. 

3  l>late  LIIl. 

•»  Plate  \A\ .  (a  lady  of  the  ducal  court). 


256  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

ducal  court."  ^  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1.553 
the  work  was  sufficiently  far  advanced  to  allow  of 
the  new  palace  being  occupied,  and  Cosimo  and 
Eleonora  with  their  seven  children  moved  into  it.^ 


Cosimo,  who  was  extremely  fond  of 
Boboii       elaborately   planned  gardens,  and  was 

the  founder  of  the  Botanical  Gardens  at 
Pisa  ^  and  the  Giardino  Botannico  de'  Semplici  at 
Florence,  took  the  greatest  pleasure  in  laying  out, 
with  the  help  of  Tribolo  and  Buontalenti,  the 
magnificent  gardens  behind  his  new  palace,  extend- 
ing up  the  slope  of  the  Boboii  hill  and  covering 
an  immense  area ;  *  while  to  Eleonora  and  her 
children  the  change  must  have  been  great  after 
the  confined  precincts  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio. 
And  as  in  these  beautiful  gardens  we  traverse  the 
long  avenues  of  cypress,  ilex,  and  stone  pine,  or 
follow  the  shady  pathways  amidst  banks  of  roses 
and  azaleas,  or  sit  on  the  seats  of  the  amphitheatre  * 
overlooking  the  back  of  the  palace,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  think  of  those  eight  children  of  Cosimo  and 

^  The  palace  continued  of  these  same  dimensions  during  the  reigns 
of  Francis  I.  and  Ferdinand  1.,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  lady  is 
evidently  of  the  time  of  Ferdinand  I.  For  she  wears  the  same  very 
marked  shape  of  dress  noted  as  being  worn  by  Christine  of  Lorraine 
and  other  ladies  of  that  time  (see  p.  345).  This  makes  the  error  of 
supposing  that  the  palace  in  the  background  had  any  connection  with 
the  Pitti  familv  still  more  marked. 

"  Their  eighth  child  (Pietro)  was  born  four  years  afterwards. 

^  The  oldest  botanical  gardens  in  Europe. 

*  Owing  to  their  situation  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  their  great  e.vtent, 
the  care  with  which  they  have  been  planned,  and  the  beauty  of  the 
views  which  they  command  over  the  country  surrounding  Florence, 
the  Boboii  gardens  have  a  charm  which  few  others  possess. 

^  See  Plate  LXXIX.  Tlie  grassy  space  which  the  amphitheatre 
encloses  was  used  for  open-air  festivities.  The  amphitheatre  is  large 
enough  to  accommodate  4,000  sjiectators.  In  the  centre  stands  the 
only  Egyptian  obelisk  which  Florence  possesses. 


XXIV.]  THE    BOBOLI    GARDENS  257 

Eleonora  who  were  the  first  of  iiumy  famihes  of 
children  to  play  here,  and  of  their  chequered 
histories : — Maria,  whose  sad  death  at  sixteen  cast 
the  first  gloom  over  the  family ;  Francis,  unstable 
and  unenergetic,  who  succeeded  his  father;  Isabella, 
destined  to  die  a  tragic  death  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
four  ;  Giovanni,  whose  death  at  nineteen  was  so 
severe  a  blow  to  his  father's  hopes ;  Lucrezia, 
married  at  fifteen,  and  dying  at  seventeen  ;  Garzia, 
his  mother's  favourite  son,  whose  death  at  sixteen 
was  immediately  followed  by  hers ;  Ferdinand, 
capable  and  full  of  energy,  who  succeeded  his 
brother  Francis,  and  carried  on  the  Medici  line  ;  and 
Pietro,  eight  years  old  when  his  mother  died,  and 
either  justly  or  unjustly  accused  of  murdering  his 
young  wife  when  he  was  only  twenty-two.^  Look- 
ing at  the  palace  where  they  all  grew  up  one  feels 
that  its  main  interest  will  always  be  associated  with 
this  first  generation  of  the  family  who  lived  here. 

But  Cosimo  did  not  only  lay  out  Fort  of 
gardens  in  connection  with  his  new  ^^^  Giorgio. 
palace.  He  intended  that  it  should  have  a  fortress 
in  close  proximity  to  it  as  well.  Therefore,  on  the 
summit  of  the  lioboli  hill,  at  the  extremity  of  the 
gardens,  he  laid  out  the  lines  of  the  fort  of  San 
Giorgio,  also  called  the  Forte  di  Belvedere.  Placed 
so  as  to  join  the  line  of  the  city  walls,  and  on  a 
height  more  immediately  overhanging  the  city  than 
that  of  San  Miniato,  it  commands  the  whole  of 
Florence,  besides  completely  defending  it  on  the 
southern  side.     And  this  fort,  when  completed  by 

'  Chap.  XXV. 
VOL.    II.  R 


258  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

his  son  Ferdinand  I.,  became  the  stronghold  of  the 
Medici  family. 

j^  Cosimo,  soon  after  he  had,  by  his 
Collections,  marriage  with  Eleonora  di  Toledo, 
become  rich  enough  to  undertake  such  a  quest,  set 
about  a  diligent  search  for  traces  of  the  ancient 
Etruscans,  making  extensive  excavations  at  Chiusi 
(the  ancient  Clusium),  Arezzo,  and  other  places 
in  "  Etruria  "  to  search  for  specimens  of  Etruscan 
art ;  while  at  the  same  time  he  purchased  all  rare 
Etruscan  and  Egyptian  antiquities  which  chance 
threw  in  his  way.  These  efforts  of  his  had  important 
consequences.  For  this  search  for  remains  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  Tuscany  was  continued  by 
his  descendants,  producing  an  immense  collection 
of  most  valuable  and  interesting  specimens  of  the 
art  of  the  Etruscans  and  objects  revealing  their 
mode  of  life.  And  these,  combined  with  the 
Egyptian  antiquities  also  gradually  accumulated, 
resulted  in  the  two  collections  which  now  form  the 
Etruscan  and  Egyptian  INIuseums  of  Florence,^ 
the  former  being  considered  probably  the  finest 
Etruscan  museum  in  the  world.  Among  the 
numerous  interesting  remains  of  Etruscan  art 
which  Cosimo  obtained  from  these  excavations 
were  the  fine  statue  of  3Iinerva,  found  near  Arezzo 
in  1541,  the  celebrated  Chimaera,  found  near 
Arezzo  in  1554,  and  the  statue  known  as  The 
Orator,  found  near  the  Trasimene  Lake  in  1566, 
all  being  of  bronze.-     The  most  valuable  of  these 

1  See  chap.  xxxi.  p.  502. 

^  The  beautiful  bronze  statue  worshipped  in  the  third  century  before 
Christ  as  Apollo,  and  now  called  the  Idolino,  though  found  in  Cosimo's 
time,  did  not  come  into  this  collection  until  1779. 


XXIV.]  ETRUSCAN  DISCOVERIES  259 

"  finds "  was  the  statue  of  the  Chimaera,  or  fire- 
breathing  monster,  having  the  body  of  a  lion,  a 
goat's  head  springing  from  the  back,  and  (for  the 
tail)  a  serpent  which  is  biting  the  goat's  head — a 
statue  contemporaneous  with  the  ^^^olf  of  Rome. 
It  was,  however,  held  to  be  inauspicious  to 
Florence,^  and  so  was  kept  by  Cosimo  in  his  private 
room  in  the  Palazzo  Veccljio  and  not  exhibited  to 
the  public.^ 

From  the  time  that  he  moved  into  his  new 
palace  Cosimo  began  to  turn  his  attention  to 
the  collection,  with  the  assistance  of  Vasari  and 
Bronzino,^  of  a  gallery  of  pictures  such  as  that 
which  his  ancestors  had  gathered  round  them 
in  former  days  in  the  palace  in  the  Via  Larga. 
The  plunder  of  the  Medici  art  collections  which 
had  taken  place  in  1494,  and  again  in  1527,  had 
dissipated  the  collections  made  by  the  elder  branch, 
scattering  far  and  wide  most  of  what  had  not  been 
destroyed,  valuable  pictures  which  had  been  the 
property  of  the  Medici  having  even  found  their 
way  to  France  and  Germany.  But  some  portion 
of  these  art  treasures  were  still  in  Florence, 
dispersed  among  different  families,  or  hidden  away 
elsewhere ;  and  Cosimo  had  search  made  for  these, 
and  bought  back  as  many  of  them  as  he  could  find 
for  the  embellishment  of  his  new  palace,  including 
portraits  of  former  members  of  the  family,  a  few 

'  Because,  being  a  lion  wounded  by  Belleropbon,  a  connection  was 
traced  between  it  and  the  Marzocco  of  Florence,  and  to  some  evil 
portended  to  Florence. 

"^  It  is  now,  « itli  aU  the  rest,  in  the  Etruscan  Museum. 

^Giorgio  \  asari  (151 1-1. "57^),  the  historian  of  the  painters,  sculptors, 
and  arcliitects,  anil  himself  also  a  painter  and  an  architect,  was  Cosimo's 
riglit-hand  man  in  all  matters  relating  to  art.  Bronzino  (1502-1  o7:i) 
was  Cosimo's  chief  painter. 


260  COSIMO    I.  [chap. 

statues  and  busts,  and  objects  of  art  such  as  the 
vases  which  had  belonged  to  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi- 
cent.^ At  the  same  time  he  set  Bronzino  to  work 
to  paint  (from  such  materials  as  existed  in  the 
shape  of  representations  on  medallions,  frescoes, 
or  otherwise)  the  portraits  of  all  the  Medici  from 
Giovanni  di  Bicci  downwards.  Bronzino  carried 
out  this  work  with  great  care  and  long  labour,  and 
the  series  of  portraits  of  the  older  Medici  which 
he  thus  painted  for  Cosimo,  and  which  are  now 
in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  are  among  his  best  works. 
Vasari,  who  was  also  at  work  for  Cosimo  in  other 
directions,"^  says : — 

"  In  some  small  pictures  painted  on  plates  of 
copper,  and  all  of  the  same  size,  he  (Bronzino) 
painted  all  the  great  men  of  the  house  of  Medici, 
beginning  with  Giovanni  di  Bicci  and  Cosimo  tlie 
elder  down  to  the  Queen  of  France  (Catherine)  in 
that  line ;  and  in  the  other,  from  Lorenzo,  brother 
of  Cosimo  the  elder,  down  to  Duke  Cosimo  and 
his  children.  The  which  portraits  are  behind  the 
door  of  the  studio  made  by  Vasari  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  new  rooms  of  the  ducal  palace."^ 

The  two  fine  portraits  of  Cosimo  L  and  Eleonora 
di  Toledo  (Plates  LII.  and  LVIH.)  gave  Bronzino 
the  reputation  of  the  best  Florentine  portrait 
painter  of  his  time. 

1  Vol.  i.  p.  321. 

2  V^asari  was  occupied  among  other  things  in  painting  in  fresco 
the  walls  of  the  rooms  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  including  the  Sala  di 
Leone  X.,  Sala  di  Clemente  VII.,  Sala  di  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere, 
and  the  great  hall. 

^  These  are  the  portraits  shown  in  Plates  II.,  III.,  XXI., 
XXXIII.,  XXXVI.,  XXXVII.,  XLIL,  XLIIL,  LII.,  LV.,  LVIL, 
LVIIL,  and  LXIL,  of  this  book,  all  except  the  first  three  and  Nos. 
XLII.  and  XLIII  being  from  life.  Vasari  specially  mentions  that  tliey 
were  all  good  portraits,  "and  very  like  the  sitters."  And  as  he  knew 
all  the  persons  concerned  his  testimony  on  that  point  is  valuable. 


XXIV.]  REVOLT   OF  SIENA  261 

The  years  1551  to  1553  were  a  troubled  time 
for  Charles  V.,  who  was  harassed  with  defensive 
and  unsuccessful  war  against  the  Turks  in  Hungary, 
against  France  in  both  Savoy  and  Lorraine,  and 
against  the  rising  in  Germany  headed  by  Maurice  of 
Savoy.  And  that  these  troubles  were  not  increased 
by  the  war  spreading  also  to  Italy  was  due  entirely 
to  the  strong  position  to  which  Cosimo  had  by 
this  time  brought  Tuscany,  and  to  his  steady 
adherence  to  the  cause  of  the  Emperor.  Never- 
theless in  1552  the  peace  of  Italy  was  severely 
endangered  by  the  action  of  the  republic  of  Siena, 
which  again  rose  in  revolt  against  Charles  V., 
drove  out  the  Spanish  garrison,  and  accepted  a 
French  garrison  in  its  place.  Cosimo  was,  however, 
able  to  prevent  the  revolt  from  spreading  to  other 
states,  and  in  January  1553  a  force  was  despatched 
from  Naples  to  subdue  Siena ;  but  owing  to 
the  death  of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples,  Don  Pedro 
di  Toledo,^  Eleonora's  ftither,  this  force  failed  to 
effect  anything.  For  his  efforts  in  the  Emperor's 
cause  the  latter  conferred  upon  Cosimo  the  coveted 
honour  of  the  Order  of  tlie  Golden  Fleece.^ 

The  attempt  from  Naples  having  failed,  Cosimo 
now  proceeded  to  undertake  the  conquest  of 
Siena  himself,  nominally  of  course  on  behalf  of 
the  Emperor,  Siena  being  an  Imperial  fief.  He 
had  by  this  time  a  large  and  well-equipped  army, 
partly    composed   of    German,    Swiss,    and    other 

^  He  died  in  Florence,  and  is  buried  in  the  cathedral.  His  portrait 
is  in  the  I'ffizi  Gallery. 

-  A  medal  was  struck  on  the  occasion  by  Cosimo,  which  shows  him 
wearinjr  the  Order  of  tiie  (Jolden  Fleece  ;  it  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
Florentine  collectiou  of  coins  and  medals  in  the  Bargello  Museum, 
Florence. 


262  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

non  -  Italian  troops,  and  partly  of  the  Tuscan 
militia  inaugurated  many  years  before  by  Machia- 
velli,  which  Cosimo  had  revived  and  largely 
increased ;  while  the  numerous  fortresses  of 
Tuscany  were  well  armed,  strongly  garrisoned, 
and  commanded  by  reliable  leaders  not  belonging 
to  Tuscany.  The  army  which  he  sent  against 
Siena  was  commanded  by  Giacomo  Medichino, 
Marquis  of  Marignano ;  while  that  of  Siena,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  French  troops,  was  commanded 
by  the  skilful  soldier  Piero  Strozzi,  Filippo  Strozzi's 
gallant  son,  who  in  his  unceasing  endeavours  to 
avenge  his  father's  death  was  always  to  be  found 
opposing  Cosimo  wherever  any  fighting  was  taking 
place.  The  war  was  a  long  one,  Siena  making  a 
splendid  fight  in  defence  of  her  ancient  republic. 
Piero  Strozzi  added  greatly  to  his  laurels  by 
his  conduct  of  the  campaign ;  it  was  carried  on 
throughout  the  Sienese  territory,  the  whole  country 
between  Siena  and  Florence  becoming  a  frequently 
fought- over  battlefield.  Cosimo  introduced  great 
barbarity  into  the  conflict  by  his  cruel  treatment 
of  the  country  people  of  the  districts  traversed  by 
the  war,  which  increased  the  determined  resistance 
offered  to  him.  At  length,  in  August  1554  Strozzi's 
army  sustained  a  severe  defeat  at  Marciano,^  which 
was  followed  by  the  investment  of  the  city  of 
Siena,  which  endured  a  terrible  siege  for  many 
months.  Everything  that  a  brave  people  could  do 
in  such  a  case  was  done,  even  the  ladies  of  Siena 
taking   an   active   part    in    the   defence.      When, 

1  To  commemorate  this  victory  Cosimo  afterwards  erected  a  column 
in  the  Piazza  San  Felice^  Florence  ;  but  it  was  removed  in  the  time  of  the 
Austrian  Grand  Dukes.  A  tablet  on  one  of  the  adjacent  houses  records 
its  having  stood  there. 


XXIV.]  CONQUEST   OF  SIENA  263 

after  untold  horrors  had  been  suffered,  the  end 
drew  near,  it  was  decided  that  Piero  Strozzi  with 
a  portion  of  the  troops  should  depart  to  hold 
Montalcino  (one  of  Siena's  subject  cities  which 
was  yet  unconquered),  and  the  command  of  the 
defence  then  devolved  on  Blaise  de  Montluc, 
Marshal  of  France,  who  covered  himself  with  no 
less  glory  than  Strozzi  had  done.  At  length,  when 
out  of  40,000  inhabitants  only  6,000  remained  alive, 
and  when  everything  edible  had  been  consumed, 
Siena  surrendered  (April  1555).  The  concluding 
scene  is  thus  described  by  Trollope : — 

"  The  miserable  remnant  of  the  brave  garrison 
marched  out  with  the  honours  of  war,  accom- 
panied by  six  hundred  families  who  would  not 
stay  to  see  their  beloved  city  under  a  tyrant's 
rule.  They  marched  out  into  a  desolate  country ; 
for  two  years  no  spade  had  touched  the  soil ; 
from  Montalcino  to  Siena,  from  Siena  to  Florence, 
no  living  thing  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  land. 
Many  died  that  day,  though  INIontluc  killed  his 
horse  to  give  them  food.  At  Buonconvento  Strozzi 
met  them ;  at  length  they  reached  Montalcino, 
and  there  the  remnants  of  Sienese  liberty  found 
a  haven.  The  shadow  of  an  ancient  republic 
rested  for  a  while  on  its  old  grey  walls  as  faintly 
as  their  hopes,  but  it  soon  passed  over  the 
mouldering  dial  and  disappeared  forever."^ 

Thus  ended  the  last  of  the  great  Italian  republics 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  had  long  been  in  the  power 
either  of  France  or  Spain.  Cosimo,  when  once  he 
had  conquered  Siena,  did  not  treat  it  badly.     He 

^  Montalcino  also   surrendered    four   years   later,    and   was   incor- 
porated with  Cosinio's  doniinious. 


264  COSIMO    I.  [chap. 

retained  almost  intact  its  ancient  constitution,  and 
preserved  the  local  customs  and  traditions  of  its 
government ;  so  that  there  was  less  change  than 
had  been  the  case  even  in  Florence  itself;  and  to 
this  conduct  on  his  part  is  due  the  strong  local 
colour  which  Siena  has  ever  since  retained.  On 
that  state  coming  under  his  rule,^  Cosimo  appointed 
as  Siena's  first  governor  his  -own  personal  friend 
Niccolini,  and  built  on  the  spur  called  the  Lizza 
the  strong  fort  of  Sta.  Barbara,  which  is  still  in 
use.  As  soon  as  the  war  was  over  Cosimo  paid  a 
long  visit  to  Siena,  and  arranged  all  these  matters 
himself;  and  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Sienese  were  the  various  details  settled  that  Siena 
never  afterwards  revolted  from  the  Medici,  and 
became  the  most  loyal  portion  of  their  dominions  ; 
while  in  after  years  that  city  came  to  consider  it 
as  a  right  that  one  member  of  the  Medici  family 
should  always  be  its  governor.^  And  out  of 
Cosimo's  army  of  30,000  men,  7,000  of  his  best 
troops  were  recruited  from  Siena. 

In  October  1555  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  w^ho 
had  been  the  most  prominent  figure  in  European 
history  for  forty  years,  abdicated  at  an  impressive 
ceremony  held  at  Brussels,  resigning  Spain,  Naples, 
the  Netherlands,  and  his  other  hereditary  dominions 
to  his  son  Philip  II.,  and  the  imperial  dignity  to 
his  brother  Ferdinand,  King  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia.^  He  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Yuste 
in   Spain,  and  died  there  in   1558  at  the  age  of 

^  On  its  being  subdued  Charles  V.  granted  to  his  son  Philip  II.  the 
investiture  of  the  fief  of  Siena  ;  and  theoretically  Cosimo  held  Siena  by 
sub-investiture  from  Philip  II. 

^  Chap,  xxvii.  p.  087,  chap,  xxviii.  p.  483,  and  chap.  xxix.  p.  480. 

^  For  general  list  of  Emperors  from  1400  to  1737,  see  Appendix  XI 


XXIV.]  IMPROVED   ADMINISTRATION  265 

fifty-eight.  In  the  same  year  that  Charles  V. 
abdicated,  Pope  Julius  III.  died,  and  was  succeeded 
first  by  Marcellus  II.,  and  after  a  month  by  Paul  IV. 

While   Cosimo    I.,    by   his   conquest  of  Siena 
and  the  other  acquisitions  of  territory  which   he 
had  gradually  gained,  as  well  as  by  the  efficient 
administration  of  his  military  affairs,  had  doubled 
the  territory  of  Tuscany  and  more  than  doubled 
her  offensive   and   defensive  power,  the  improve- 
ments he  wrought  in  her  civil  administration  were 
still  more  important.     Cosimo  ruled  by  fear ;  his 
government  was  a  tyrannical  one,  and  none  dared 
disobey  or  evade  his  commands  ;  but  he  ruled  well. 
In  every  department  of  the  State  order  and  the 
strictest  discipline  took  the  place  of  disorder  and 
corruption.      The    administration    of   justice   was 
entirely  remodelled  ;   a  proper  criminal  code  was 
drawn   up,    and   rigidly   adhered   to ;    magistrates 
were  well  paid  and  forbidden  to  receive  any  sort 
of  bribe,  and  terrible  retribution  fell  upon  any  who 
transgressed.     The  police  had  to  submit  daily  to 
Cosimo  a  list  of  all  crimes  committed  during  the 
previous  twenty-four  hours ;  and  they  had  reason 
to  rue  it  if  any  attempt  to  shoot  or  stab  was  not 
promptly  followed  by  the  arrest  of  the  criminal. 
Cosimo's  secret  prisons,  more  dreaded  than  even 
those  of  Venice,  were  kept  for  those  who  failed  to 
obey  these  orders.     For  the  rest  justice  had  never 
been    so  evenly  administered ;   never  in  the  days 
of  freedom  had  justice  been  obtainable  as  it  now 
was   under   the   rule   of   a   tyrant.     Heavy   taxes 
had   to    be    imposed,    especially   after    the    great 
expense  of  the   Sienese  war,  but  Cosimo  by  his 


2()6  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

care  over  the  commerce   of  the  country  enabled 
the  people  to  bear  them. 

"  He  revived  the  decaying  silk  and  w^oollen 
trades.  .  .  .  By  disobeying  Charles  V.'s  order  to 
the  Italian  cities  to  eschew  the  fairs  of  Lyons, 
Cosimo  drew  trade  away  from  Genoa  and  Lucca, 
while  he  also  captured  the  lucrative  trade  in 
brocades  with  Sicily  and  Spain.  .  .  .  He  set  an 
example  in  scientific  farming  and  fruit-growing. 
He  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  silver  mines  of 
Pietra  Santa,  the  marble  quarries  near  Carrarra, 
and  the  anthracite  discoveries  on  the  upper 
Arno  ;  concessions  were  obtained  for  working  the 
alum  of  Piombino,  and  the  iron  of  Elba."^ 

Roads,  drainage  works,  harbours,  markets,^  all  the 
appliances  of  a  modern  state,  grew  up  in  all 
directions  under  Cosimo's  hand.  Pisa,  then  a 
depopulated  desert,  was  revived  again  into  a 
flourishing  city;  its  sanitation  was  improved  by 
the  draining  of  the  surrounding  marshes,  and  its 
prosperity  increased  by  the  introduction  of  new 
manufactures ;  the  harbour  w^as  reopened  by  the 
construction  of  new  docks  ;  the  University  was  re- 
established, and  Tuscans  forbidden  to  take  degrees 
elsewhere ;  the  Pisa  School  of  Botany  was  founded, 
and  became  afterwards  very  celebrated ;  while  by 
frequently  residing  at  Pisa  with  his  family,  Cosimo 
made  it  a  fashionable  resort.  Leghorn  was  raised 
from  a  neglected  fishing  village  of  700  inhabitants  to 
a  busy  port,  and  plans  were  laid  for  its  development 
which  afterwards  bore  much  fruit  under  Cosimo's 

^  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  iii.  chap.  xii. 

*  Cosimo  built  the  Mercato  Nuovo,  which  was  the  principal  mart 
for  silk.  The  fine  bronze  boar  in  front  of  it  was  executed  by  Tacca, 
being  a  copy  of  the  ancient  one  in  marble  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery. 


XXIV.]  TUSCANY'S   DEVELOPMENT  267 

son  Ferdinand.  Siena  had  its  social  and  commercial 
conditions  in  every  way  improved,  while  the  Sienese 
Maremma  was  drained,  and  agricultural  colonies 
from  Lombardy  established  there.  By  these  and 
similar  methods  carried  out  aU  over  Tuscany, 
Cosimo  advanced  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
country  no  less  than  he  did  its  political  power. 

Naval  and  military  affairs  showed  the  same 
energetic  rule.  Portoferrajo  was  made  a  strong 
naval  station,  and  in  addition  to  his  extensive 
works  on  its  harbour  Cosimo  introduced  a  sea- 
faring population  from  Sicily  and  Greece,  while 
he  also  began  the  creation  of  a  fleet  of  galleys 
which  under  his  son  Ferdinand  did  good  service 
against  the  Turks  and  the  pirates  of  the  ISIedi- 
terranean.  His  army,  thirty  thousand  strong,  was 
well  equipped ;  while  of  his  militia  Cosimo  was 
specially  proud,  and  declared  that  he  could  mobilise 
them  in  five  days.  He  studded  Tuscany  with 
fortresses,  fortresses  which,  constructed  with  the 
assistance  of  his  celebrated  architect  and  engineer 
Ammanati,  were  monuments  of  defensive  strength. 
As  an  example  of  one  of  these  we  have  the  remark- 
able fortress  of  San  Martino,  on  the  hill  above  San 
Piero  a  Sieve,  laid  out  under  Cosimo's  orders  in 
order  to  defend  Florence  on  the  north,  which, 
when  its  garrison  and  armament  were  withdrawn 
two  centuries  later  by  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke 
Pietro  Leopoldo  (17G5-1790)  was  ordered  by  liim 
not  to  be  destroyed,  but  to  be  kept  "  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  military  architecture  of  the  sixteenth 
century."  This  fort  is  a  mile  in  circumference,  and 
the  strength  of  its  construction  extraordinary.  It 
stands  on  the  spur  of  a  liill  at  the  foot  of  which 


2()8  COSIMO   1.  [chap. 

on  three  sides  flow  the  waters  of  the  Sieve,  and 
its  lofty  keep  dominates  tlie  whole  plain  of  the 
Mugello.  In  the  centre  of  the  fort  is  a  capacious 
reservoir  for  storing  water  for  the  garrison  ;  while, 
should  this  be  exhausted,  a  deep  staircase  in  the 
heart  of  the  mountain  enabled  the  troops  to  lead 
their  horses,  without  being  seen  by  the  enemy, 
down  to  the  Sieve  for  water.  In  the  depths  of 
the  mountain  are  vast  subterranean  halls  where 
were  magazines,  armouries,  foundries  for  making 
every  kind  of  military  equipment,  and  store-rooms 
for  food,  so  that  the  fortress  was  considered  able  to 
defy  the  most  formidable  enemy.  The  bastions 
and  walls  are  of  extraordinary  thickness  and 
solidity ;  and  they,  with  the  battlements  and 
casemated  gateways,  are  studded  everywhere  with 
the  JNIedici  arms.  Within  the  walls  there  is  much 
open  space  for  the  movements  of  troops,  which 
is  now  cultivated.  This  fortress  was  begun  by 
Cosimo  I.  and  completed  by  his  son  Ferdinand  I., 
with  the  assistance  of  the  architect  Buontalenti.^ 

Nor  did  fleets,  troops,  and  fortresses,  the 
development  of  trade,  and  the  improvement  of 
civil  administration  absorb  all  Cosimo's  energies. 
The  Medici  have  written  their  sign-manual  even 
upon  the  landscape  of  Tuscany.  Few  among  the 
many  who  look  with  pleasure  on  the  gentle  slopes 
of  the  Tuscan  hills,  covered  far  and  wide  with 
those   olive   plantations   whose   soft   bluish  -  green 

^  111  this  fortress  was  fouud  by  the  Grand  Duke  Pietro  Leopoldo 
the  huge  brass  cannon,  weighing  27,000  Hjs.,  the  \\ork  of  Michelangelo, 
and  called  "  Saint  Paul "  because  the  brazen  head  of  the  apostle 
formed  the  cascabel.  It  had  been  left  there  by  the  Medici  as  a  curious 
object  of  art.  Pietro  Leopoldo  was  declared  by  his  detractors  to  have 
destroyed  it  for  the  sake  of  the  brass,  an  accusation  which  even  Napier 
repeats  (vol.  vi.  p.  1U8)  ;  nevertheless  it  is  now  in  the  Bargello  Museum. 


XXIV.]        THE  TAPESTRY   MANUFACTORY  269 

tints  add  so  much  to  the  special  beauty  of  the 
landscape  in  Tuscany,  realise  that  this  great 
industry  ^  which  now  forms  so  large  a  part  of  that 
country's  agricultural  life  is  due  to  Cosimo  I.,  who 
introduced  it  as  a  portion  of  his  measures  for  im- 
proving the  agricultural  prosperity  of  the  coimtry. 
Such  things  last  when  crowns,  castles,  and  Orders 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  have  long  passed  away. 

By  these  various  measures  Cosimo  gradually 
welded  Tuscany  into  a  well-administered  modern 
state  and  the  leading  power  in  Italy ;  and  they 
would  have  made  his  rule  entirely  admirable  had 
they  not  been  combined  with  vindictive  conduct 
towards  all  who  opposed  him,  and  a  tyranny  which 
crushed  out  all  independent  spirit.  It  is  observable 
that  he  was  to  some  extent  conscious  of  his  own 
limitations ;  tyrant  as  he  was,  he  would  at  times 
endeavour  to  adopt  outwardly  something  of  the 
bonhomie  and  absence  of  formality  which  was 
customary  with  his  great  ancestor,  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent ;  but  the  role  was  one  alien  to  his 
character,  and  let  any  presume  to  treat  him  in 
return  witli  the  freedom  with  which  they  would 
have  treated  Lorenzo,  and  they  at  once  found 
Cosimo  lapse  into  the  cold  and  stiff  demeanour 
natural  to  one  who  ruled  by  fear  alone  and  had  no 
sympathy  with  republican  ways. 

Among  Cosimo's  numerous  success- 
ful efforts  to  promote  the  manufactures     Florentine 
of  the   country    none   was    more    im-      Tapestry 

.     •       •  ■  1 .        .1  1  •       .  Manufactory. 

portant  m  its    results   than   his   intro- 
duction  of  tlie   Tapestry   manufacture    (Arazzo), 

'  The  olive  ha^^  l)oeii  tailed  the  "  tree  of  civilisation,"  .since  it  requires 
tending  for  about  eigliteen  years  before  it  yields  any  return. 


270  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

an  industry  which  had  hitherto  been  confined  to 
Flanders.      Being   anxious   to   estabhsh   a   manu- 
factory  for   this    industry   which    should    surpass 
all   others,    he   founded   the    Florentine    Tapestry 
Manufactory,  and  by  means  of  an  abnormally  high 
salary   induced   two   Flemings,    Nicholas  Karcher 
and   Jean    Van   der    Roost,   to   enter   his   service 
for   the    charge    of    it,   giving    them    an    annual 
salary  of  six   hundred   gold   scudi,  free   quarters, 
and  permission  to  undertake  private  commissions 
in  addition  to  their  work  of  charge  of  the  factory. 
In   return   they   bound   themselves   to  teach   the 
secrets  of  their  art  to  a  fixed  number  of  Floren- 
tines and  to  keep  twenty-four  tapestries  always  on 
hand  as  examples.     All  work  done  for  the  house 
of  Medici  was  paid  for  separately.^     The  results  of 
this  action  surpassed  even  Cosimo's  expectations. 
The  Florentine  Tapestry  Manufactory  grew  in  a 
short  time  into  great  repute,  its  work  being  con- 
sidered fully  equal  to  that  of  Flanders,  and  even 
surpassing   the   latter    in    variety   of    design   and 
harmony    of    colour.      This    manufactory   had    a 
distinguished  career  for  nearly  two  hundred  years, 
but   came   to   an   end   when    the    Medici   passed 
away,  the  manufactory  being  closed  in  1737   on 
the  death  of  the  last  Medici  Grand  Duke.     We 
are  told,  "  It  prospered    and  fell  with  the  house 
of  Medici."     Of  the  tapestries  made  by  this  factory 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four  had  been  purchased 
by  the  Medici  family,   and  these  formed  part  of 
the   gift    to    the   nation   made    by    Anna   Maria 

'  One  of  these  tapestries  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Municipal  Council 
hall  in  iW  Palazzo  Veccliio  bearing  Van  der  Roost's  signature,  a  piece 
of  meat  roasting  on  a  spit. 


XXIV.]  DEATH    OF   xMARIA  271 

Ludovica.^  They  were  at  that  time  scattered 
among  the  various  palaces  and  villas  of  the  family, 
but  they  are  now  to  be  seen  collected  togetlier 
and  forming  (with  specimens  of  Flemish  and 
Gobelins  tapestry  which  also  belonged  to  the 
Medici)  the  Galleria  degli  Arrazi.^  And  a  com- 
parison between  them  and  the  Flemish  and 
Gobelins  tapestries  is  decidedly  to  the  advantage 
of  the  Florentine  tapestries.  They  are  exceedingly 
rich,  woven  in  gold  and  silver  thread  intermixed 
with  silk  and  wool,  the  borders  especially  being 
very  artistically  designed. 

Cosimo  for  the  amusement  of  the 

,       .     ,        ,  II',  p,         Chariot  races. 

people  mtroduced  chariot  races,  aiter 
the  pattern  of  those  of  ancient  Rome.  They  were 
held  in  the  Piazza  Santa  Maria  Novella,  where 
the  marble  goals  are  still  to  be  seen.  These  were 
originally  of  M'^ood,  but  Ferdinand  I.  caused  them 
to  be  constructed  of  marble  and  placed  (as  now) 
on  bronze  tortoises  made  by  Gian  da  Bologna. 

In  1557,  four  years  after  they  moved 
into  the  new  palace,  occurred  the  first 
death  in  Cosimo's  family,  that  of  his  eldest 
daughter  Maria,  who  died  at  sixteen,  and  whose 
charming  portrait  at  about  the  age  ot  ten,  by 
Bronzino,  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  is  well  known. ^ 
In  the  following  century  it  was  declared  that  this 
death   of    his    eldest    daughter   was   due   to   slow 

^  i<ee  chap.  xxxi.  p.  603  (j). 

'"  The  collection  includes  the  three  large  Flemish  tapestries  repre- 
eenting  the  festivities  at  Marseilles  at  the  marriage  of  Catlicrine  de' 
Me<lici,  which  were  sent  by  her  as  a  present  to  Cosimo  at  the  time  of 
Lis  own  marriage  in  1639. 

=•  Plate  LV. 


272  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

poison  given  her  by  her  father,  the  motive  being 
asserted  to  be  that,  having  arranged  with  Pope 
Paul  IV.  for  her  marriage  to  that  Pope's  nephew, 
Tabriano,  Cosimo  discovered  that  she  had  fallen 
in  love  with  another  youth,  a  page  at  her  father's 
court.  No  historians  of  the  present  day  give  any 
credit  to  this  story,  which  made  its  first  appear- 
ance more  than  fifty  years  after  Maria's  death. 
Moreover  the  State  archives  now  show  that  Cosimo, 
who  was  at  this  time  strenuously  endeavouring  to 
establish  close  political  relations  with  Ercole  II., 
Duke  of  Ferrara,  had  arranged  for  Maria's  marriage, 
not  as  the  story  relates  to  the  Pope's  nephew,  but 
to  Duke  Ercole's  eldest  son,  Alfonso  d'Este.  So 
that  Cosimo  would  by  the  crime  alleged  have 
destroyed  an  alliance  he  was  labouring  in  every 
way  to  cement,  and  have  made  an  enemy  of 
the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  whom  he  was  particularly 
anxious  to  unite  to  himself  as  closely  as  possible. 
In  1558  great  destruction  was  caused  in  Florence 
by  an  unusually  heavy  flood  in  the  Arno,  which 
swept  away  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita,  the  Ponte 
alia  Carraja,  and  all  the  houses  which  were  on  the 
Ponte  a  Rubaconte,^  the  Ponte  Vecchio  (built  by 
Taddeo  Gaddi  in  1334)  alone  of  all  the  bridges 
remaining  uninjured.  Florence  became  in  a  few 
hours  a  sea  of  mud  and  ruin,  some  parts  of  the 
city  being  submerged  to  a  depth  of  twenty- two 
feet.  It  was  after  this  flood  that  Cosimo  built  his 
two  fine  bridges^  to  replace  the  two  which  had 
been  destroyed,  the  new  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita  being 

1  Now  Ponte  alle  Grazie. 

-'  These  two  bridges,  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita  and  the  Ponte  alia 
Carraja,  are  \isible  in  Plate  LIX.  flower  down  the  river  than  the 
Ponte  Vecchio),  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita  being  the  nearer  of  tlie  two. 


[/inari] 


MAUiA   in;    Mi:i)i(i,    i)Aii;Mri;u   oi'  rosnro   i. 
ll\     l>r(iii/.iii(i. 


\  UffixiZGal/e>->u 


XXIV.]  DEATH   OF   PIERO   STROZZI  273 

especially  notable.  This  beautiful  bridge,  in  its 
proportions,  excellence  of  construction,  and  the 
symmetry  of  its  lines,  exemplifies  the  perfection 
in  such  architecture  then  attained  in  Tuscany, 
though  now  unattainable  anywhere.^  Part  of 
the  reason  why  it  pleases  the  eye  so  much  is 
that  its  curve  is  that  technically  known  as  a 
"  catenary,"  being  that  taken  by  a  chain  sus- 
pended from  supports  at  botli  ends,  a  curve 
which  is  neither  that  of  an  elhpse  or  of  any 
other  geometrical  figure,  but  special  to  that  par- 
ticular case. 

In  June  1558  Piero  Strozzi,  the  eldest  of 
Filippo  Strozzi's  three  sons,  was  killed  at  the 
taking  of  Thionville.  Pie  had  spent  a  large  part  of 
his  life  in  warring  against  Cosimo  and  endeavour- 
ing to  exact  vengeance  for  his  father's  death,  and 
had  become  one  of  the  most  experienced  generals 
of  the  time.  He  had  spent  many  years  in  France, 
where  he  was  highly  thought  of  by  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  and  was  protected  by  her  against  the 
attempts  which  Cosimo  made  on  his  life.  Cosimo 
constantly  tried  to  have  him  assassinated,^  but 
Strozzi  never  retaliated  in  the  same  way ;  and  at 
his  death  Cosimo  spoke  of  him  with  honour,  affirm- 
ing that  Strozzi  had  ever  acted  against  him  "  con 
la  visiera  apertaj'  and  that  "  Italy  had  lost  in  him 
one  of  her  principal  gentlemen  "  :  no  small  tribute 
from  so  vindicti\'e  an  enemy  as  Cosimo.  In  the 
same  year  the  latter  gave  his  daughter   Isabella, 

*  Tlie  arcliitcct  was  Ammanati. 

^  Tliis  is  rendered  perfectly  certain  by  Cosimo's  letter  to  Oradini, 
in  which  in  full  detail  he  orders  Oradini  to  arrange  for  tlie  assassination 
of  I'iero  Strozzi,  sayinj;^  that  he  is  to  en^ape  two  or  iniir(>  ass;issins  for 
tlie  ptirjjose^  and   that  he  (Cosimo)   will   bear  all  the  expenses. 
VOL.    II.  S 


^H  COSIMO   I.  ['"AP. 

then  sixteen,  in  marriage  to  Paolo  Giordano  Orsini, 
l^rince  of  Bracciano,  and  his  daughter  Lucrezia, 
then  fifteen,  to  Alfonso,  the  eldest  son  of  Ercole  II., 
Duke  of  Ferrara,^  instead  of  her  sister  Maria,  whose 
untimely  death  had  prevented  a  similar  alliance. 
In  November  of  this  year  Mary  Tudor  died,  and 
her  sister  EHzabeth  succeeded  her  as  Queen  of 
England. 

The  year  1559  was  an  important  one  for  Europe. 
In  February  (four  months  before  Henry  II.'s 
sudden  death  at  the  tournament  in  Paris  ^)  the 
treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  between  Henry  II., 
Philip  II.,  and  Queen  Elizabeth  put  an  end  to 
the  war  in  which  France,  Spain,  and  England  had 
been  engaged,  and  closed  the  long  struggle  between 
the  two  former  for  supremacy  in  Italy,  which, 
begun  by  the  invasion  of  Charles  A^III.,  had  lasted 
for  over  sixty  years.  That  struggle  ended  in  a 
complete  victory  for  Spain ;  and  the  final  result 
was  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  due  to  the  fact  that 
Tuscany,  the  most  powerful  state  in  Italy,  had 
sided  against  France  and  with  Spain.  By  the 
above  treaty  France  formally  withdrew  from  Italy, 
surrendering  all  her  claims  in  that  country ;  Siena, 
together  with  Montalcino,  was  assured  to  Cosimo ; 
the  Duchy  of  Savoy,  conquered  by  France  twenty- 
three  years  before,  was  restored  to  its  rightful 
Duke,  Emmanuel  Philibert,  and  erected  into  an 
independent  buffer  state  between  Italy  and  France ; 
Spain  remained  in  possession  of  both  north  and 
south  Italy,  while    Cosimo   held  the  centre ;   and 

^  Alfonso  himself  became  Duke  of  Ferrara  in  the  following  year  on 
the  deatli  of  his  father. 
^  Chap.  xix.  p.  53. 


xxiv]  AN   IMPORTANT   YEAR  275 

the  peace  thus  created  in  Italy  lasted  for  over  half 
a  century.  In  June  Philip  II.  married  Elizabeth 
of  France,^  daughter  of  Henry  II.,  who,  being 
killed  a  few  days  later,  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Francis  II.  In  July  Philip  II.  quitted  the  Nether- 
lands, which  country  during  the  remaining  thirty- 
nine  years  of  his  life  he  never  again  visited. 
Before  leaving  he  appointed  as  Governor  of  the 
Netherlands  his  half-sister,  Margaret  of  Parma, 
and  held  at  Ghent  the  last  chapter  of  the  Order 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  that  was  ever  assembled.  In 
August  Pope  Paul  IV.,  who  during  his  four  years' 
pontificate  had  been  a  constant  cause  of  war  in 
Italy,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Pius  IV. 

The  new  Pope  was  of  humble  origin,  and 
though  named  Giovanni  Angelo  Medici  (or 
Medichino),  was  no  connection  of  the  Medici  of 
Florence.^  Nevertheless,  on  becoming  Pope  he 
assumed  the  arms  of  the  latter,^  and  Cosimo  made 
no  objection,  hoping  to  obtain  solid  advantages 
through  this  Pope's  friendship.     For  Cosimo  was 

{(i)  Maria  of  Portugal,  Married       1 543. 

(ii)  Mary  of  Eiig-laiid.  ,,  1554. 

(iii)  Elizabeth  of  France.  „  1559. 

(iv)  Anna  of  Austria.  „  1570. 

'  His  father  was  a  petty  shopkeeper  in  Milan. 

3  The  family  of  Pius  IV.  could  not,  and  never  did,  claim  any 
relationship  with  the  Medici  of  Florence  until  his  elevation  to  the 
Papacy.  (Jiacomo  Medichino,  the  lirother  of  Giovanni  Angelo,  was  a 
corsair,  and  was  made  by  force  JSlarquis  of  Marignano  ;  he  tlicii  took 
service  under  Spain,  and  became  general  of  tlie  league  of  the  Kmperor 
('harles  V.  and  ("lenient  VII.  In  the  war  with  Siena  (Josimo  employed 
Giacomo  to  command  his  army,  and  liis  brother  Giovainii  Angelo 
shortly  afterwards  becoming  Pope,  tlie  two  brotlicrs  claimed  a  relation- 
ship to  Cosimo,  which,  thougli  entirely  without  any  foundation,  it  suited 
the  latter  at  the  time  not  to  contest ;  and  the  genealogist  thereupon 
inserted  a  new  branch  into  the  family  tree  of  that  portion  of  the 
Medici  who  were  descended  from  Giambuono,  son  of  Chiarissimo  {see 
Appendix  II.),  bearing  the  names  of  Giovanni  .Angelo  and  his  brother 
Giacomo.  Syinonds,  in  his  Sketches  in  Italy,  gives  an  amusing  account 
of  the  transaction. 


276  COSIMO   I.  [ciiAP. 

now  silently  at  work  upon  a  project  wliich  he  had 
for  some  time  been  secretly  nourishing.  We  are 
told  that  the  leading  marks  of  Cosimo's  character 
were  "profound  sagacity,  deep  dissimulation,  im- 
penetrable darkness,  extreme  caution,  patience, 
resolution,  and  indomitable  perseverance."  And 
the  project  for  which  Cosimo  was  now,  in  accord- 
ance with  these  characteristics,  secretly  working 
was  nothing  less  than  the  realisation  of  that  which 
had  been  the  culminating  point  of  the  dream  of 
Clement  VII.  As  a  Duke  he  was  theoretically 
merely  the  Emperor's  lieutenant ;  as  a  Grand 
Duke  he  would  be  a  reigning  monarch.  Cosimo 
could  not  hope  to  obtain  that  crown  upon  which 
his  aim  was  set  through  the  regular  channel,  the 
Emperor ;  Ferdinand  I.  (like  his  dead  brother, 
Charles  V.)  would  not  be  likely  to  entertain  for  a 
moment  a  proposal  to  place  a  crown  on  the  head  of 
one  who  only  a  few  years  ago  had  been  an  unknown 
youth  to  whom  it  had  been  a  great  favour  to  allow 
him  to  become  ruler  of  Florence  and  the  Emperor's 
vassal.  But  future  Emperors,  further  removed 
from  the  days  of  1537,  might  not  be  so  opposed ; 
and  in  the  meantime  it  might  be  possible  to  obtain 
the  coveted  dignity  through  another  channel,  that 
of  the  Pope.  For  this  object  paramount  influence 
at  Rome  was  all  important ;  and  to  attain  this 
Cosimo  was  steadily  employing  every  means  at 
his  disposal,  though  allowing  none  to  know  what 
was  his  ultimate  aim  in  doing  so.  Pius  IV.  was 
soon  entirely  under  his  domination,  and  when  in 
15G0  Cosimo  paid  a  visit  to  Rome,  and  was  enter- 
tained by  this  Pope,  his  influence  was  so  powerful 
that  the  Pope,  sensible  that  Cosimo  was  now  by 


XXIV.]  HIS  INFLUENCE  AT  ROME  277 

far  the  most  important  ruler  in  Italy,  wished, 
we  are  told,  to  make  him  a  king,  or  what  was 
practically  the  same  thing,  a  reigning  Grand  Duke. 
But  Cosimo  put  the  suggestion  aside  as  a  mere 
polite  piece  of  flattery,  outside  practical  politics. 
It  was  what  he  was  quietly  working  for,  but  his 
excessive  caution  made  him  feel  that  the  time  for 
such  a  step  was  not  now,  when  the  nations  of 
Europe  had  just  made  peace  together,  or  while 
Ferdinand  I.  was  Emperor.  When  France  and 
Spain  should  be  again  at  enmity,  when  England 
should  be  involved  in  war  with  one  or  other  of 
them,  and  when  a  weaker  Emperor  should  have 
succeeded  Ferdinand  I.,  and  one  perhaps  allied  to 
his  family  in  marriage,  then  such  a  step  might  be 
hazarded  witliout  danger  of  provoking  opposition 
other  than  that  of  mere  verbal  protests.  More- 
over, his  relative  Catherine^  (who  hated  Cosimo, 
and  thwarted  him  on  many  occasions)  began  in 
this  year  15G0  her  long  career  of  power  in  France, 
and  Cosimo,  foreseeing  that  she  would  soon  be 
involved  in  difficulties  with  both  Spain  and 
England,  if  not  also  with  Germany,  when  she 
would  be  unable  to  offer  any  active  opposition  to 
his  design,  preferred  to  wait  until  this  should  be 
the  case.     In  the  meantime  he  succeeded  so  well 

^  Catlici-iiie  and  (osiino  liad  each  a  common  great-grandfather  iu 
Lorenzo  tlie  AJagnificent,  tlius  : — 

LoHKNZO    THK    MAfiNII'lCENT. 


PlETRO 

LUCREZIA 

LORKNZO 

Maria 

Catherine 

Cosimo 

278  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

in  the  preliminary  step  of  establishing  a  paramount 
influence  at  Home  that  three  successive  Popes 
were  practically  governed  by  him. 

JNIeanwhile,  Cosimo  adopted  measures  to 
establish  still  more  firmly  the  position  of  his  family, 
already  much  strengthened  by  the  marriages  of 
his  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  now  Duchess 
of  Ferrara,  and  the  other  Princess  of  Bracciano, 
the  wife  of  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Rome. 
In  1560,  through  his  influence  with  Pius  IV., 
Cosimo  succeeded  in  getting  his  second  son^ 
Giovanni,^  now  seventeen,  made  a  cardinal :  thus 
imitating  the  course  which  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi- 
cent had  so  successfully  taken  with  that  other 
Giovanni  who  had  become  Pope  Leo  X.  Cosimo 
hoped  that  Giovanni,  who  was  his  favourite  son, 
would  achieve  similar  success,  while  his  joining 
the  ranks  of  the  cardinals  would  help  to  strengthen 
that  influence  at  Rome  which  Cosimo  had  special 
reasons  for  desiring.  He  also  in  1561  instituted 
the  Tuscan  Order  of  Knighthood,  the  Order  of 
Santo  Stefano,  which  afterwards  became  very 
famous  in  Tuscany,  and  highly  sought  after.  It 
was  a  naval  Order,  and  its  primary  objects  were 
laid  down  as  being  (i)  to  rid  the  Mediterranean  of 
pirates ;  (ii)  to  liberate  the  Christians  held  captive 

^  The  dates  of  birth  of  Cosimo's  and  Eleonora's  eight  children 
were  : — 

Maria       born  1540  Lucrezia      born  1544 

Francis       „      1541  Garzia  „      1547 

IsABELiaA      ,,      1542  Ferdinand      ,,      1549 

Giovanni    „     1543  Pietro  ,,     1554 

^  Plate  LVI.  This  portrait  of  Giovanni  in  his  cardinal's  dress  (one 
of  those  which  has  always  been  kept  at  the  villa  of  Poffffio  a  Caiano) 
sliows  him  as  he  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  two  years  later  at 
the  age  of  nineteen.  Sustermans  copied  it  from  an  earlier  one  now 
lost. 


XXIV.]  ORDER   OF   SANTO  STEFANO  279 

by  the  pirates  and  the  Turks,  and  (iii)  to  propa- 
gate the  Christian  faitli.  The  Duke  himself  was 
the  Grand  Master,  and,  by  the  Order  being  con- 
fined to  the  nobiHty  and  made  the  chief  Order 
of  Tuscany,  the  knights  became  a  sort  of  per- 
manent body-guard  for  the  protection  of  the  Duke 
and  his  dynasty.  Being  a  naval  Order  the  knights 
of  Santo  Stefano  had  their  conventual  palace  and 
church  at  Pisa,  and  the  church  is  hung  with 
Moorish  banners  taken  by  them  from  the  Turks 
and  the  Barbary  pirates,  and  with  the  figure-heads 
of  Turkish  galleys  captured  in  war.  The  knights 
won  special  honour  at  the  battle  of  Lepanto  (1571). 
The  cross  of  the  Order  was  similar  in  shape  to  that 
of  the  knights  of  Malta,  but  in  colour  red  instead 
of  white.^  In  this  same  year  1561  Cosimo  and 
Eleonora,  who  had  already  lost  one  of  their  three 
daughters,  heard  of  the  death  at  Ferrara  of  their 
daughter  Lucrezia,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen.  It  was  in  after  years  declared  that 
she  was  poisoned  by  her  husband,  on  the  ground  of 
infidelity ;  but  the  statement  is  considered  by  the 
highest  authority  -  to  be  quite  untrue,  and  to  have 
been  entirely  fabricated  by  the  Florentine  fuor- 
usciti. 

And  now  there  fell  upon  Cosimo 

. ,  ,         1  .'        1 .        .  T        Death  of  Giovanni, 

a   terrible   domestic    disaster.      In        oarzia.  and 
October  1562  he  started  on  a  tour        Eieonoradi 

A      r^  1         T»  T  Toledo. 

through  Grosseto,  the   Maremma, 

and   Leghorn   to  Pisa,   to   see   in   person    various 

military   and    engineering    works    which    he    had 

'  The  Order  came  to  an  end  in  1859. 

'  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  iii.  chap,  xii. 


280  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

inaugurated  at  those  places.  Tie  took  with  him 
his  wife  Eleonora  (wlio  had  been  suffering  from 
hemorrhage  of  the  lungs  for  more  than  a  year, 
and  was  recommended  by  the  doctors  to  go  for 
the  winter  to  the  milder  climate  near  the  sea- 
coast),  and  his  three  sons,  Giovanni,  Garzia,  and 
Ferdinand.  A  bad  epidemic  of  malarial  fever  was 
in  that  year  devastating  a  large  part  of  Tuscany, 
and  especially  the  JNIaremma,  and  the  doctors  urged 
Cosimo  not  to  take  wath  him  his  young  sons ; 
but  the  latter  were  eager  for  the  chances  of  sport 
on  such  a  trip,  and  persuaded  their  father  to 
disregard  the  advice.  The  expedition  had  a 
sad  ending ;  for  within  a  single  month  Eleonora, 
Giovanni,  and  Garzia  all  died  from  malarial  fever, 
Giovanni  on  their  reaching  Leghorn,  and  Garzia 
and  his  mother  three  wxeks  later  at  Pisa. 

Such  an  event  could  not  in  Cosimo's  case  fail 
to  form  a  foundation  for  a  tragic  tale  of  murder. 
And  accordingly  we  find  put  forward  a  highly 
dramatic  one,  purporting  to  convey  the  true  story 
of  these  three  deaths,  and  stating  that  in  a  quarrel 
while  the  two  brothers  were  out  shooting  near 
Leghorn  Garzia  had  stabbed  his  brother  Giovanni, 
who  died  three  days  later  in  consequence ;  that 
Cosimo  was  so  enraged  at  this  death  of  his 
favourite  son  that  he  drew  his  sword  and  killed 
Garzia  with  his  own  hands ;  and  that  Eleonora 
died  of  grief  and  horror  at  the  double  crime. 

This  account  (which  has  continued  to  the 
present  day)  was  that  related  by  the  various 
historians  of  that  age.  The  latter,  unable  to 
obtain  access  to  the  private  documents  of  the 
Medici   family,   were  forced    to   rely   upon    infor- 


PLATE   I. VI. 


Brogi 


(iI(l\A.NM,    SK(OM)    SON    (11      COSI.^H)    I. 

By  Susterniaii>. 

[r(7/((  of  l\>(j<j!o  ft  Ciiiano. 


PLATE    I.VII. 


I.AIIZIA,    THIRD    SON    OF    COSl.MO    I. 

By  Broiiziiio. 

(Reproduced  hi/  permissiun  of  the  Visitors  of  the  Ashmo/ean  JlKSeum,  Oxford, 

Ashmolean  Mttseitml 


XXIV.]        LOSS   OF   WIFE   AND   TWO   SONS  281 

mation  often  felt  by  them  to  be  dubious ;  and 
several  of  them,  though  giving  this  account,  throw 
doubts  upon  its  truth. ^  The  chief  cause  of  their 
uncertainty  was  that  however  deeply  the  subject 
was  probed,  in  no  case  could  it  be  discovered  with 
whom  the  report  originated ;  added  to  which 
every  investigation  showed  that  it  had  no  origin 
in  Tuscany,  but  that  all  the  different  versions 
of  the  story  had  this  in  common,  that  they  all 
emanated  from  Rome,  the  principal  abode  of  the 
Florentine  exiles.  From  thence,  spread  by  letters 
and  news-agents  to  Venice,  to  France,  and  above 
all  to  the  large  body  of  ecclesiastics  assembled 
at  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  story  soon  became 
the  common  opinion  outside  Tuscany,  and  was 
eagerly  taken  up  by  every  foreign  enemy  of 
Cosimo  throughout  Europe. 

But  this  account  of  these  deaths  did  not  all 
appear  at  the  same  time.  Its  Roman  authors, 
whoever  they  were,  brought  it  out  piecemeal. 
When  on  the  20th  November  Giovanni  died  it  was 
stated  that  he  had  been  killed  by  his  brother  Garzia. 
When  three  weeks  later  Garzia  died  an  addition  was 
made  to  the  effect  that  Giovanni  when  wounded 
had  in  retaliation  also  wounded  Garzia,  and  that 
this  was  the  cause  of  the  latter's  death.  At  this 
point  the  story  remained  for  some  fifty  years. 

To  this  first  portion    of  the   story  there    was, 

^  'ITius  Giustiiiiaiio,  a  Venetian,  says  it  is  so  reported  in  the  Roman 
newspapers  ;  and  Muratori,  after  relatinj;  the  story,  says  :  "  It"  tliis  he 
the  truth  or  a  lie  1  do  not  know."  (ialluzi  (writing,'-  ahoiit  two  centuries 
after  tlie  event)  says  that  he  considers  it  wouhl  liave  heen  almost 
impossihle  for  ('osimo  to  have  treated  the  widespread  rejiort  with  the 
indifference  that  he  did  if  it  had  heen  true.  Lastly  Hotta,  a  strong 
anti-Medicean,  severe  in  condeninini!:  the  faults  of  that  family,  hut  a 
man  very  anxious  to  he  just  and  upright,  st.ites  that  he  considers  it  was 
simply  an  invention  of  C'osinios  enemies. 


282  COSIMO    I.  [chap. 

liowe\cr,  uddcd,  more  than  fifty  years  later,  a 
further  embellishment  of  it  to  the  effect  that 
Garzia's  death  had  not  been  caused  as  previously 
stated,  but  that  Cosimo,  enraged  at  Giovanni's 
death,  had  killed  his  younger  son  with  his  own 
hands ;  and  that  Eleonora's  death  had  been  caused 
by  horror  thereat.  During  the  intervening  fifty 
years  no  single  letter,  document,  or  historical 
writing  throughout  Italy  had  ever  conveyed  even 
a  hint  of  this  deed.  This  addition  by  making 
the  story  so  dramatic  increased  its  chance  of 
spreading ;  while  since  it  was  produced  long  after 
Cosimo  was  dead  it  was  evidently  aimed,  not  so 
much  at  himself,  as  at  his  family.^  It  rapidly 
spread,  and  soon  became  the  common  belief. 

The  State  archives  in  these  days  supply  the 
information  which  the  historians  of  a  former  day 
lacked.  And  recent  research  therein  ^  has  furnished 
a  mass  of  evidence  which  conclusively  disposes  of 
both  portions  of  the  story,  and  shows  that  the 
historians  who  doubted  its  truth  were  right.  This 
evidence  includes  two  letters  from  Cosimo  to  his 
eldest  son  Francis  (then  in  Spain)  relating  the 
events  which  had  occurred  to  the  family  during 
the  latter  part  of  this  untoward  trip.  In  the  first 
of  these,  dated  20th  November  1562,  he  tells  his 
son  that  on  the  15th  Giovanni  had  been  attacked 
by  malignant  fever  at  Rosignano,  that  they  had 
promptly  moved  from  thence  to  Leghorn,  but 
that  he  became  worse,  and  had  died  there  on  the 

1  See  chap.  xxvi.  pp.  369-370. 

^  More  particularly  the  painstaking  labours  of  the  late  Sig-nor 
Snltini,  the  results  of  which  were  published  in  his  Tragidie  Medicee 
(1898),  iu  which  book  the  documents  in  the  State  archives  which  refute 
the  story  are  quoted  in  full. 


XXIV.]  A   VENDETTA  283 

date  of  tlie  letter ;  that  Garzia  and  Ferdinand 
also  had  fever,  but  less  severely,  and  that  he  was 
going  to  take  them  next  day  to  Pisa,  where  it 
was  hoped  they  would  recover ;  and  that  this 
exceptionally  malignant  type  of  fever  was  very 
bad  all  over  the  part  of  the  country  that  they 
had  been  traversing.  This  is  followed  by  a  second 
letter  from  Cosimo  to  his  eldest  son,  dated  18th 
December,  written  amidst  all  the  grief  at  the 
death  that  day  of  his  wife  Eleonora,  in  which 
he  tells  Francis  that  Garzia's  fever  had  increased 
after  their  arrival  at  Pisa,  that  after  a  severe 
illness  of  twenty-one  days  he  had  died  on  the 
12th  December,  and  that  his  mother,  worn  out 
by  her  exertions  in  nursing  him  while  she  was 
herself  also  ill,  had  succumbed  six  days  later, 
and  giving  full  details  of  their  last  hours. 

These  letters,  together  with  the  other  docu- 
ments in  the  State  archives  already  referred  to, 
prove  with  great  completeness  that  the  story 
which  so  long  obtained  credence  as  the  history 
of  this  episode  is  a  complete  fable ;  one  perhaps 
scarcely  expected  to  be  taken  seriously  even  by 
its  unknown  authors.  It  was  in  fact  one  of  a 
series  which  had  their  origin  in  the  manner  by 
which  Cosimo  gained  his  throne.  From  the  day 
of  Montemin-lo  a  ceaseless  war  was  waged  between 
Cosimo  and  that  large  number  of  Florentine 
families  who  had  lost  near  relatives  in  I  lis  ruth- 
less executions  after  that  battle,  and  lived  in  exile  ; 
a  war  in  which  Cosimo,  cruel  and  vindictive,  slew 
his  enemies  with  the  sword  whenever  his  arm 
could  reach  them,  and  in  which  the  exiles,  no 
less    vindictive,    but    poverty  -  stricken   and   with- 


284  COSIMO  I.  [chap. 

out  the  resources  he  possessed,  responded  by 
attempts  to  murder  him  and  by  a  constant  stream 
of  stories  of  this  nature  poured  forth  unremittingly 
on  the  principle  that  if  enough  mud  is  thrown 
some  must  stick. 

The  Cambridge  Modeim  History  (than  which 
there  is  no  higher  authority)  dismisses  the  entire 
story  in  contempt  with  the  following  remark : — 

''  In  tlie  autumn  of  1562  he  (Cosimo)  had  lost 
within  a  few  days  from  Maremma  fevers  his  wife 
and  his  two  sons,  Garzia  and  Giovanni.  A  year 
earlier  his  well  -  loved  daughter,  Lucrezia,  died 
shortly  after  her  marriage  to  Alfonso  II.  of 
Ferrara.  These  natural  misfortunes  were  in  the 
following  century  caught  up  by  scandalmongers 
and  Florentine  exiles,  and  distorted  into  dramatic 
tragedies  of  adultery  and  poison,  fratricide,  and 
parricide  which  have  passed  muster  as  the  inner 
history  of  the  reign."  ^ 

But  even  without  any  such  terrible  additions 
to  its  natural  features  this  episode  was  sufficiently 
tragic.  Of  the  family  party  of  five  who  had 
started  for  a  pleasant  trip  together  only  two, 
Cosimo  and  his  young  son  Ferdinand,  returned. 
Cosimo  had  lost  within  a  month  the  devoted 
wife  who  had  been  his  constant  companion  and 
adviser  for  twenty-three  years,  and  two  sons,  on 
one  of  whom,  through  his  recent  creation  as  a 
cardinal,  he  had  built  many  hopes,  while  both  of 
them  possessed  many  attractive  qualities.  All  the 
three  bodies  w^ere  brought  back  to  Florence  and 
buried  in  San  Lorenzo,  the  funeral  of  Giovanni 
being   scarcely  over   before  the   grave  was   again 

*  The  Cambridge  Modem  History,  vol.  iii.  chap.  xii. 


vxiv.]  ELEONORA   DI   TOLEDO  285 

opened  to  receive  the  bodies  of  his  mother  and 
brother.  And  in  one  corner  of  the  crypt  of  the 
family  mausoleum  these  four  lie  buried  together — 
Cosimo,  Eleonora,  Giovanni,  and  Garzia,  the  last 
three  with  the  following  dates  of  death  upon  their 
tombstones  :  Giovanni  20th  November  1502,  Garzia 
12th  December  1502,  and  Eleonora  18th  December 
1502. 

Bronzino's  fine  portrait  of  poor  Garzia^  who 
is  given  a  charming  character  by  those  who  knew 
him,  and  who,  dying  at  sixteen,  has  had  his  name 
thus  defamed  for  centuries  to  gratify  political 
animosity  against  his  father,  must  have  been 
painted  only  a  few  months  before  the  family 
left  Florence  on  the  tour  which  was  to  end  so 
disastrously.  Of  her  five  sons  he  was  his  mother's 
favourite  son.  "  She  loved  him  as  her  own  eyes," 
says  an  old  chronicler. 

This  loss  was  a  severe  blow  to  Cosimo ;  and 
under  it  he  became  more  than  ever  dark,  sullen,  and 
impenetrable.  It  left  him  with  only  four  children, 
Francis,  now  twenty-two,  Isabella,  twenty-one, 
Ferdinand,  fourteen,  and  Pietro,  a  child  of  eight. 
Isabella  returning  soon  afterwards  from  Home,  took 
charge  of  her  father's  household,  her  husband  Orsini 
being  content  that  she  should  live  in  Florence 
while  he  remained  at  Rome. 

Eleonora  di  Toledo,  the  only  Spanish    Eleonora 
wife  whom  the   Medici   ever  took  (their        di 
other  matrimonial  aUiances  being  all  with 
France  or  Austria),  deserves  a  much  more  promi- 
nent   place   in    tiie   history   of  that   family   than 

'  rialo  LVIl. 


286  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

she  has  received.  The  very  large  part  which 
she  had  in  the  estabhshment  of  Cosimo's  power 
in  the  years  1539-1549  has  failed  altogether  to 
be  recognised.  Yet  Eleonora  di  Toledo  might 
almost  be  looked  upon  as  a  second  founder  of 
the  family,  so  great  was  the  assistance  which  she 
brought  to  Cosimo  when  as  a  youth  of  twenty 
he  was  destitute  of  wealth,  family,  friends,  or 
influence  to  support  the  tottering  throne  which  he 
had  seized,  but  which  without  her  he  would  probably 
in  a  very  short  time  have  lost,  together  with  liis 
own  life.  Many  have  wondered  how  it  was  that 
at  the  beginning  of  his  career  Cosimo,  so  signally 
without  the  means  to  effect  such  a  result,  should 
have  been  able  so  quickly  and  firmly  to  establish 
his  power;  the  secret  lies  in  Eleonora  di  Toledo. 
Cosimo  in  time  himself  became  rich  by  a  sound 
fiscal  policy,  and  by  the  private  trading  which  he 
throughout  his  life  carried  on ;  but  these  sources  of 
income  took  time  to  develop,  and  his  urgent  want 
at  the  commencement  was  money  with  which  to 
start  such  operations,  and  to  maintain  a  military 
force  for  his  own  protection ;  Eleonora  brought 
him  the  immediately  available  wealth  of  which  he 
stood  so  much  in  need.  Cosimo  was  also  without 
friends  or  influence  to  back  him  ;  Eleonora  brought 
him  the  powerful  support  of  her  father  whose  only 
child  she  was,  and  who  as  ruler  over  the  whole  of 
southern  Italy  was  always  able  to  put  pressure 
upon  the  Pope  to  prevent  the  latter  from  molest- 
ing Cosimo,  as  he  was  very  desirous  of  doing. 
Above  all  Eleonora  had  exactly  the  kind  of 
character  which  made  her  an  admirable  wife  to  a 
man  of  Cosimo's  peculiar  disposition.     She  under- 


XXIV.]  ELEONORA'S  PORTRAIT  287 

stood  how  to  treat  his  dark  and  gloomy  moods, 
and  to  soothe  his  fierce  rage  ;  she  was  strongly 
devoted  to  him,  and  never  lost  her  great  influence 
with  him  during  all  the  twenty-three  years  of  their 
married  life ;  she  was  the  only  channel  to  his 
favour ;  and  slie  was  throughout  her  life  a  most 
sensible  adviser  to  him.  Though  accustomed  until 
she  arrived  in  Florence  to  the  far  greater  grandeur 
of  her  father's  vice-regal  palace  at  Naples,  she 
never  complained  at  being  given  as  a  residence 
the  gloomy  Palazzo  Veccliio,  until  after  ten  years 
Cosimo's  circumstances  enabled  him  to  provide  her 
with  a  more  suitable  abode.  Lastly,  the  extent 
and  beneficial  nature  of  her  influence  is  amply 
demonstrated  by  the  marked  deterioration  to  be 
observed  in  Cosimo's  character  from  the  time  that 
death  deprived  him  of  her  when  she  was  forty  years 
of  age. 

Eleonora's  splendid  portrait  by  Bronzino  in  the 
Uffizi  Gallery,^  with  her  little  son  Ferdinand  by 
her  side,  is  the  finest  of  all  Bronzino's  many 
portraits.  Whatever  may  be  the  reason,  her  face 
has  an  expression  of  sadness ;  and  the  picture  has 
for  its  background  the  night  scene  of  a  dreary, 
marshy  landscape  with  dark,  desolate  hills  in  the 
distance,  which  accords  with  this  expression.  The 
picture  was  evidently  painted  some  time  in  the 
year  1553,  when  she  was  thirty-one,  and  Ferdinand, 
then  her  youngest  born,  was  four  years  old.  She 
wears  a  magnificent  dress  of  white  satin,''  heavily 

1  Plate  LVIII. 

^  Altliough  a  close  inspection  will  show  that  it  is  white,  the  shading 
of  the  dress  makos  it  look  at  the  first  f^laiicc  almost  fjrey  in  colour  ; 
wliicli  afjain,  like  tlie  landscape,  accords  with  the  generally  subdued 
tone  of"  tlie  picture. 


288  COSIMO  I.  [chap. 

eml)roidercd  all  over  with  rich  black  "galloon" 
trinuiiing  of  a  very  marked  pattern,  on  her  head 
a  net  of  gold  cord  set  with  pearls,  round  her  neck 
a  string  of  large  pearls,  and  round  her  waist  a 
girdle  having  a  large  tassel  of  pearls.  This  dress 
had  an  important  subsequent  history.  Eleonora  was 
the  first  who  was  buried  in  the  manner  ever  after- 
wards customary  in  this  family,  all  the  members 
of  which  from  this  time  onwards  were  buried 
dressed  in  their  most  splendid  costumes,  and 
wearing  numerous  jew^els.  And  Eleonora  was 
buried  dressed  as  she  appears  in  this  portrait.  In 
1857  a  commission  w^as  appointed  by  the  State  to 
open  and  examine  all  the  Medici  coffins,  which, 
owing  to  their  having  been  kept  without  due 
security  after  the  Medici  passed  away,  had,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  been  broken 
into  by  thieves  for  the  sake  of  the  jewels  they 
contained,  and  were  in  considerable  disorder.^ 
When  this  examination  took  place  Eleonora's 
coffin  was  one  of  the  few  found  without  any 
name  or  inscription  either  outside  or  inside.  But 
her  remains  w^ere  at  once  recognised  by  this  dress, 
w^hich  was  familiar  to  all  through  Bronzino's  well- 
known  portrait.  The  official  report  on  the 
examination  of  the  coffins  states  in  regard  to 
hers : — 

"  The  body  was  recognised  with  certainty  by 
the  rich  dress  of  white  satin  richly  embroidered 
with  'galloon'  trimming  all  over  both  the  bodice 
and  the  skirt,  exactly  as  she  is  depicted  in  the 
portrait    painted    by   Bronzino    which    is    in   the 

^  See  cliap.  xxxii.  p.  515. 


PLATE  LVIII. 


H'^'zi  (J,if/>-n/. 


XXIV.]  THE   COUNCIL   OF  TRENT  289 

Gallery  of  the  Statues,^  together  with  the  same 
net  of  gold  cord  worn  on  the  hair.  Beneath  this 
dress  was  an  under-gown  of  crimson  velvet ;  and 
on  the  feet  shoes  similarly  of  crimson  velvet.""^ 

The  string  of  pearls  round  her  neck  and  the  girdle 
with  the  tassel  of  pearls  had,  however,  been  stolen. 

Cosimo,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  domestic 
blow  which  he  had  suffered,  did  not  relax  his 
pursuit  of  the  aim  on  which  his  mind  was  set. 
To  this  end  it  was  highly  important  to  have  one 
son  a  cardinal,  who  would  maintain  a  constant 
watch  over  Cosimo's  interests  at  Rome  ;  and  within 
a  month  of  the  funeral  of  his  wife  and  sons  he 
obtained  from  Pius  IV.  the  creation  as  cardinal 
of  his  fourth  son,  Ferdinand,  to  take  the  place  of 
the  dead  Giovanni,  though  Ferdinand  was  only 
in  his  fourteenth  year. 

In  December  1563  the  Council  of  Trent,  which 
had  sat  for  eighteen  years,  finished  its  labours  and 
was  dissolved.  Pope  Pius  IV.  (the  Pope  who 
made  himself  a  member  of  the  Medici  family)  has 
obtained  a  lasting  memorial  in  the  work  of  this 
Council  from  the  fact  that  it  drew  up  a  new  creed, 
called  by  his  name,  which  has  ever  since  had  to 
be  accepted  in  addition  to  the  three  creeds  of  an- 
tiquity by  all  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 
As  regards  the  primary  object  for  which  it  was 
convened,  the  Council  of  Trent  achieved  nothing. 
Abandoning  the  endeavour  to  reunite  Christen- 
dom   (to    attain    which    object    the    convocation 

'  The  former  name  for  the  llffizi  Gallery  ;  see  chap.  xxvi.  p.  354. 
^  Official  Report    of   the    examination    of  the    Tombs   in    the   Medici 
Mausoleum.     1857. 

vol,.    II.  T 


290  COSIMO  I.  [f^nAP- 

of  this  Council  had  been  so  anxiously  striven 
after  for  so  many  years  before  it  was  assembled) 
it  made  no  attempt  to  deal  with  the  evil  which 
Pope  Adrian  VI.  had  so  ably  diagnosed  as  the 
cause  of  the  disease,  or  to  apply  that  remedy 
which  he  had  pointed  out  as  the  only  one,  "a 
limitation  of  the  absolutism  of  the  Head  of  the 
Church "  ;  ^  an  attempt  which  even  the  Councils 
of  Pisa,  Constance,  and  Bale  had  made.  On  the 
contrary,  this  Council  turned  its  whole  attention 
to  re  -  establishing  the  Papacy  on  the  footing  on 
which  it  had  stood  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
So  that,  instead  of  uniting,  it  accentuated  the 
differences  between  the  two  parties  more  than 
ever.  Nevertheless  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  I. 
did  not  even  yet  give  up  the  hope  of  effecting  a 
reconciliation.  As  soon  as  the  Council  had  dis- 
persed after  this  abortive  conclusion,  the  Emperor 
(following  to  some  extent  the  example  which 
Catherine  de'  Medici  had  set  two  years  before  in 
France)  caused  George  Cassander,  a  highly  learned 
Belgian  theologian,  to  draw  up  a  statement  of 
the  points  of  controversy  between  the  two  parties 
to  serve  as  a  basis  for  a  fresh  conference  on  the 
subject.  This  Cassander  did  in  a  very  able  and 
broad-minded  treatise,  entitled  "A  comideration 
of  the  articles  of  religion  under  dispute  bettveen 
Catholics  and  Protestants,''  which  was  duly 
published.  But  owing  to  the  Emperor's  death 
no  further  result  ensued. 

In  1564  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  I.  died,  and 
was  succeeded   by  his   son,  Maximihan    II.,  with 

1  Vol.  i.  pp. 432-433. 


xxiv.j  MARRIAGE   OF  FRANCIS  291 

whom  Cosimo  hoped  to  be  able  to  estabhsh 
closer  relations.  In  this  he  was  successful,  and 
in  January  15G5  Cosimo's  eldest  son  Francis  was 
married  to  the  Emperor  JNlaximilian's  sister,  the 
Archduchess  Joanna  of  Austria,  daughter  of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  I.,  and  niece  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  It  was  another  step  upwards  on 
the  ladder  which  the  Medici  had  for  so  many 
generations  been  climbing,  being  the  most  exalted 
marriage  they  had  ever  yet  made ;  and  Cosimo 
had  good  reason  to  hope  that  it  would  materially 
assist  him  when  the  time  should  come  for  him 
to  put  forward  a  claim  to  be,  no  longer  merely 
Duke  of  Florence,  but  a  crowned  head.  It  did 
not,  however,  augur  well  for  the  chances  of  happi- 
ness of  Francis  and  Joanna  that  the  former  had 
been  for  more  than  a  year  passionately  attached 
to  the  beautiful  Venetian,  Bianca  Capello,  while 
the  Archduchess  was  not  only  plain  in  appear- 
ance and  unattractive  in  manner,  but  also  made 
no  secret  that  she  considered  the  marriage  one 
altogether  derogatory  to  her  dignity. 

As  Cosimo  was  anxious  to  do  honour  in  every 
way  to  his  son's  bride,  nothing  was  omitted  which 
could  add  splendour  to  the  occasion.  It  was  settled 
that  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  should  be  made  over  to 
Francis  and  Joanna  as  their  residence,  and  the 
old  castle  of  the  Signoria  of  Florence  was  under 
Cosimo's  orders  beautified  in  every  way  by  Vasari 
to  fit  it  for  the  abode  of  an  Archduchess.  The 
suite  of  apartments  which  had  been  occupied  by 
Cosimo  and  Eleonora  was  entirely  redecorated ; 
round  the   vestibule   of  the   cortile   were    painted 


292  COSIMO   1.  [chap. 

fresco  pictures  of  Austrian  towns,  so  that  Joanna 
should  have  famihar  scenes  to  look  at ;  ^  the 
massive  pillars  of  the  cortile  were  adorned  with 
stucco  ornaments  on  a  gold  ground,  which  still 
remain,  though  the  gold  has  disappeared ;  and  in 
the  centre  of  the  court  Cosimo  placed  Verrocchio's 
beautiful  fountain  of  the  Boy  ivith  the  Dolphin, 
which  had  been  made  for  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent 's 
villa  of  Careggi ;  while  a  pipe  conducting  specially 
pure  water  from  the  Boboli  hill  was  brought  over 
the  Ponte  Vecchio  to  supply  the  w^ater  which  flows 
from  this  fountain.  The  Archduchess  arrived  in 
Florence  in  January  1565,  and  the  marriage,  w^hich 
took  place  in  San  Lorenzo,  was  a  very  magnificent 
ceremony,  and  was  followed  by  a  week  of  public 
festivities  of  the  most  lavish  description. 

The  In  addition  to  these  arrangements 
Passaggio.  Cosimo,  in  connection  with  this  marriage 
of  his  son  with  the  Emperor's  sister,  constructed 
another  w^ork  which  still  remains  one  of  the 
notable  sights  of  Florence.  In  imitation  of  the 
passage  which  Homer  describes  as  uniting  the 
palace  of  Hector  with  that  of  Priam  (as  well 
as  to  provide  a  means  of  escape  for  his  family 
in  time  of  disturbance),  Cosimo  arranged  to 
connect,  by  a  long  covered  gallery,  his  own  palace 
with  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  now  to  be  occupied 
by  his  son.  He  therefore  ordered  Vasari  to  con- 
struct the  celebrated  Passaggio,^  a  corridor  of 
nearly  half  a  mile  long  through  a  crowded  part 
of  the   city,   starting   from  the   Palazzo    Vecchio, 

-  Tlie  remains  of  these  frescoes  are  still  to  be  seen. 

-  Plate  LIX. 


xxiv]  THE  PASSAGGIO  293 

passing  over  the  building  known  as  the  Uffizi,  or 
pubHc  offices  (which  Cosimo  had  built  in  1.561), 
over  the  top  of  the  shops  on  the  Ponte  Vecchio, 
through  houses  and  over  streets,  until  it  reached 
the  Ducal  Palace.  The  work  must  have  been  exe- 
cuted with  great  rapidity,  for  tlie  contract  was 
only  signed  on  the  12t]i  INlarch  1565,  and  Lapini 
tells  us  that  the  corridor  was  finished  by  November. 
The  contract  for  this  work  gives  some  details 
interesting  to  those  who  know  Florence  in  these 
days.     It  lays  down  that, 

"  There  shall  be  an  arch  above  the  street  ^  where 
is  the  Dogana  to  the  wall  of  the  church  of  San 
Piero  Scheraggio ;  ^  and  another  arch  at  the  house 
of  Signor  Trajano  Boba  ;  and  along  the  Lungarno 
a  corridor  with  arches  and  pilasters,  as  far  as  the 
Ponte  ^^ecchio,  thence  proceeding  onwards  above 
the  shops  and  houses  of  the  said  bridge  on  the 
side  towards  the  Ponte  a  Rubaconte,'  and  round 
the  tower  of  the  house  of  Matteo  Manelli  by 
means  of  stone  brackets.  From  this  tower  another 
arch  spanning  the  Via  de'  Bardi,  shall  rest  upon 
the  tower  of  the  '  Parte  Guelfa,'  opposite  the  house 
of  the  INIanelli.  The  corridor  is  then  to  follow  the 
small  ally  behind  the  houses  facing  the  principal 
street,  and  to  pass  above  the  portico  of  the  church 
of  Santa  Felicita,  where  is  to  be  made  a  lo^]^m.* 
Thence  the  corridor,  supported  on  pilasters  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  cloisters  of  the  clergy  of 

'  Now  the  Via  della  Niiina. 

^  This  diurch  stood  at  the  corner  of  tlie  jjroseiit  Uffizi  huilrliiief.  ;nid 
was  partially  demolished  when  in  1.501  Cosimo  Ituilt  this  ranjife  of  jmhlic 
offices.  Its  very  old  and  interesting  pulpit  is  to  he  seen  in  the  little 
church  of  San  Leonardo  in  Arcetri. 

^  Now  Ponte  alle  Grazie. 

''  This  loggia  opens  into  the  church  ahove  its  west  door,  and  thus 
formed  a  means  for  the  members  of  the  family  to  be  present  at  Mass 
in  this  church. 


294  COSIMO  I.  T'^HAP. 

Santa  Felicita,  shall  gradually  descend  to  the 
level  of  the  garden  of  the  Pitti.^  The  said  corridor 
and  its  adjuncts  are  to  be  roofed  in,  the  ceilings 
plastered,  whitewashed,  and  finished  according  to 
the  orders,  designs,  and  models  given  from  time 
to  time  by  the  magnificent  and  excellent  master 
Giorgio  Vasari."^ 

The  sentence  in  this  contract  ordering  the  corridor 
to  be  carried  round  the  outside  of  the  Palazzo 
Manelli  on  brackets  is  interesting.  That  palace 
occupies  the  end  of  the  bridge,  and  had  belonged 
to  the  Manelli  family  for  many  generations.  Its 
position  appeared  to  make  it  unavoidable  that 
Cosimo's  new  corridor  should  pass  through  it. 

"Accordingly,"  Mellini  says,  "  Cosimo  sent  for 
the  owners  of  the  said  palace,  and  asked  if  they 
were  willing  courteously  to  permit  him  to  make 
the  passage  through  it.  But  they  strongly  objected, 
pointing  out  that  it  would  spoil  their  house  ;  where- 
upon he  (Cosimo)  placed  it  as  we  now  see  it  on 
stone  brackets,  passing  by  a  sharp  turn  round  the 
outside  of  the  house.  Nor  did  he  bear  them  ill- 
will,  saying  that  every  one  was  master  of  his  own 
house." 

Hitherto  the  shops  on  the  Ponte  Vecchio  had  been 
occupied  by  butchers  ;  on  making  the  Passaggio 
Cosimo  ordered  them  to  vacate,  and  directed  all 
the  jewellers  in  Florence  to  inhabit  these  shops ; 
and  this  has  ever  since  been  the  jewellers'  quarter. 

From   the   time   of  his   eldest   son's   marriage 

'  The  subsequent  extension  of  the  Ducal  Palace  made  this  no  longer 
necessary,  and  the  corridor  now  issues  direct  into  the  eastern  end  of 
the  palace. 

■'  Miscellanea  Fiorentina  di  ErvMzione  e  Storia,  by  Signer  Jodico  del 
Badia. 


XXIV.]  CARNESECCHI  295 

Cosimo  made  over  to  him  the  entire  control  of 
home  affairs,  though  still  retaining  in  his  own 
hands  foreign  affairs.  In  the  same  year  (15G5) 
Pope  Pius  I V^.  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Pius  V. 
(Michele  Ghislieri),  the  stern  old  inquisitor,  and  a 
pitiless  persecutor  of  the  new  religion.  With  such 
a  Pope  it  was  not  difficult  to  see  what  kind  of 
conduct  would  be  most  conducive  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  that  paramount  influence  at  the  Vatican 
which  it  was  Cosimo's  earnest  desire  to  retain,  and 
the  more  so  since  affairs  in  France,  Spain,  and 
Germany  showed  that  the  time  was  approaching 
when  he  would  be  able  to  take  the  step  for  which 
he  had  long  been  preparing. 

The  character  of  the  new  Pope  soon  made 
itself  felt  throughout  Italy  ;  a  general  stamping  out 
of  Protestantism  wherever  it  had  taken  root  began. 
This  placed  in  danger  a  man  who  had  long  been 
a  firm  friend  of  the  Medici  family,  and  who  had 
done  good  service  for  Cosimo,  in  particular,  in 
various  capacities.  Carnesecchi  was  a  Florentine  of 
good  family  who  had  been  Protonotary  Apostolic 
to  Clement  VII.,  and  of  so  much  influence  with 
him  that  it  was  said  that  he  rather  than  Clement 
was  Pope.  Some  years  after  Clement's  death 
he  came  under  the  influence  and  teachintj  of 
Valdes,  became  a  Protestant,  and  ere  long  one  of 
the  leading  Protestants  in  Italy.  After  spend- 
ing some  years  in  France  he  returned  to  Italy, 
but  in  1557  was  pronounced  by  Pope  Paul  IV. 
"  a  refractory  heretic,"  and  had  to  fly  for  his  life. 
He  fled  to  France  to  Catherine  de'  JMedici,  who 
protected  him.  On  the  death  of  Paul  IV.  he 
returned  to  Florence,  where  during  the  pontificate 


296  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

of  Pius  IV.  he  remained  unmolested,  and  was  one 
of  Cosimo's  most  trusted  friends  and  advisers. 
But  the  election  of  Pope  Pius  V.  placed  Carnesecchi 
at  once  in  danger — danger  which  was  increased  by 
his  having  recently  entreated  Cosimo  to  exert  his 
great  influence  with  the  Emperor  to  bring  about 
the  assembly  of  a  really  Oecumenical  Council  in 
the  centre  of  Germany,  and  to  effect  the  Pope's 
personal  attendance  thereat.  Pope  Pius  V.,  dread- 
ing the  effect  of  Cosimo's  influence  if  exerted  in 
the  manner  urged  by  Carnesecchi,  earnestly  desired 
to  remove  this  friend  and  adviser  from  Cosimo's 
side,  and  was  eager  to  get  hold  of  Carnesecchi  and 
hand  him  over  to  the  Inquisition.  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  on  the  other  hand,  had  written  to  Cosimo 
urging  him  to  protect  Carnesecchi  in  the  same  way 
as  she  had  done,  and  to  refuse  the  Pope's  demand 
for  his  surrender.  But  Cosimo  throughout  life 
ruthlessly  sacrificed  all  who  came  in  the  way  of  his 
plans  ;  he  was  bent  upon  an  object  which  only  the 
Pope's  favour  could  obtain  for  him,  and  he  knew 
well  that  Carnesecchi's  life  would  be  the  price. 
Therefore,  to  his  lasting  shame,  he  in  July  1566 
surrendered  this  faithful  adherent  of  himself  and 
his  family  to  the  Pope ;  and  in  October  1567 
Carnesecchi  was  burnt  in  Rome  by  the  Inquisition. 
Two  years  afterwards  Cosimo  received  his  reward. 
"  Carnesecchi  was  the  last  of  the  chief  reformers 
in  Italy,  and  with  his  death  the  reforming  spirit 
in  that  country,  which  at  one  time  had  been  very 
strong,  died  out.  "  ^ 

'  The  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  ii. 


XXIV.]  THE  CROWN  GAINED  297 

In  1569,  the  year  of  the  battles  of  q^.^^^  jjuke 
Jarnac    and    Moncontour    in    France,  of 

when  Catherine  de'  Medici's  troubles  "^^^^y- 
were  at  their  height,  Cosimo  considered  the  time 
at  last  propitious  for  the  step  he  had  long  con- 
templated. France  was  blazing  from  end  to  end 
with  civil  war ;  Spain  was  occupied  with  the  con- 
test in  the  Netherlands,  and  endeavouring  also 
to  take  part  in  the  conflict  in  France  ;  England 
was  embroiled  with  both  France  and  Spain  ;  and  in 
Germany  the  Emperor  Maximilian  had  his  hands 
full  with  similar  troubles.  None  were  therefore 
likely  to  interfere  actively  against  Cosimo's  assump- 
tion of  regal  dignity.  Accordingly  we  are  informed 
that  "  owing  to  Cosimo's  great  influence  with  Pope 
Pius  v.,  and  his  many  good  offices  to  the  Papal 
See, "  that  Pope  now  published  a  bull  creating 
Cosimo  I.  "Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany."  In  doing 
this  the  Pope  was,  of  course,  assuming  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  Emperor,  but  Cosimo  trusted  in  time 
to  get  the  latter  to  acquiesce  in  what  was  a  fait 
accompli.  Nor  was  the  Pope's  action  unjustified 
from  the  general  point  of  view.  Cosimo  had 
raised  Tuscany  to  such  a  position  of  power  and 
importance  that  her  ruler  was  justly  to  be  con- 
sidered on  a  level  with  otlier  sovereign  rulers  of 
states  not  in  any  way  in  advance  of  his  in  these 
respects.  In  February  1570  Cosimo  was,  with 
much  ceremony,  crowned  in  Rome  by  the  Pope. 
Spain  and  Germany  refused  to  acknowledge 
Cosimo's  new  rank ;  France  and  England,  how- 
ever, did  so ;  and  witliin  the  next  few  years  the 
other  powers  of  Europe  one  by  one  concurred.^ 

'  Pope  Pius  y.  (lictl  two  years  afterwards.     He  was  succeeded  by 
Gregory  XIII.  (1572-1586). 


298  COSIMO   I.  [chap. 

The  shape  of  the  new  crown  was  peculiar,  and 
was  carefully  laid  down  in  the  Pope's  bull.  This 
ordered  that  the  crown  of  Tuscany  was  (unlike  the 
French,  Spanish,  and  other  crowns)  to  be  "  radiated 
like  that  of  the  Eastern  kings,  alternate  with  the 
Florentine  lily."^  It  was  a  royal  crown  with  the 
points  curving  outwards,  intended  to  represent  the 
blades  of  the  iris.  In  the  centre  of  the  front  was 
a  large  red  Florentine  lily  :  ^  thus  making  the  crest 
of  Florence's  ancient  Republic  the  chief  jewel  of 
the  royal  crown.  The  sceptre  was  also  peculiar ; 
it  was  ordered  to  be  surmounted  by  the  Medici 
palle,  and  upon  this  the  Florentine  lily. 

The  portrait  of  Cosimo  painted  to  commemorate 
this  occasion  shows  him  wearing  his  robes  as  Grand 
Duke,  with  on  his  head  the  new  crown,  and  in  his 
hand  the  sceptre.^ 

Thus  had  the  Medici  reached  at  length  the 
summit  of  their  career,  and  a  crown  was  at  last 
placed  upon  a  Medici  head.  One  hundred  and 
seventy  years  from  the  time  that  Giovanni  di  Bicci, 
the  humble  banker  of  Florence,  is  first  heard  of, 
his  descendant  the  head  of  the  house  entered  the 
group  of  European  sovereigns.  Fate  in  irony  had 
realised  the  long  dream  of  Clement  VII.  in 
a  manner  far  different  from  his  intentions ;  and 
had  placed  the  crown  which  he  had  schemed  to 
gain  in  the  future  for  his  family  upon  the  head 
not  of  a  scion  of  the  elder  branch,  but  of  the  son 
of  that  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  whom  he  had 
striven  to  keep  from  succeeding  to  the  honours 

^  Tlie  iris. 

^  Usually  heavily  jewelled  {see  Plate  LXXI.). 
*  Plate  LX.     In  the  background  is  seen  the  Ducal  Palace  as  it  was 
in  his  day. 


iKsiMo   I..   \ii:ai{|m;    his    M:\\•I,^ -liAiM-.D  (kown    am>    itixitrN".    riri    -mi-ihi 

\W   lintii/.iiMi. 


xxiv]  HIS  DEATH  299 

of  the  Medici,  and  had  thought  finally  disposed  of 
on  the  battlefield  of  Governolo. 

The  remaining  four  years  of  Cosimo's  life  were 
only  notable  for  the  general  deterioration  in  his 
character,  which,  beginning  to  set  in  from  the 
time  of  Eleonora's  death,  and  increasing  year  by 
year,  became  in  these  last  four  years  strongly 
pronounced.  Leaving  the  entire  government  of 
the  country  to  the  inefRcient  hands  of  his  son 
Francis,  he  lived  chiefly  in  retirement  at  the  villa 
of  Castello  with  a  new  wife,  not  at  all  in  his 
own  rank,^  named  Camilla  Martelli,  whom  he  had 
married  about  the  year  1571,  and  who  was  treated 
as  a  sort  of  morganatic  wife.  This  marriage  gave 
the  greatest  offence  to  his  sons,  who  refused  to 
recognise  Camilla  as  really  their  father's  wife ; 
while  this,  and  undignified  disputes  in  which  he 
was  involved  with  her  relations,  caused  Cosimo's 
latter  days  to  be  wanting  in  either  peace  or  dignity. 
He  died  at  the  villa  of  Castello,  on  the  21st  April 
1574,  at  the  age  of  fifty  -  five,  after  a  reign  of 
thirty- seven  years. 

Cosimo.  whose  tomb  bears  the  inscription 
"  Magnus  Dux  Etruriae  Primus,"  "^  was  interred 
with  great  pomp  in  San  I..orenzo,  clad  in  his  robes 
as  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  of  Santo  Stcfano,  and 
wearing  his  jewelled  crown  and  sceptre  and  his  Order 
of  the  Golden  Fleece.  The  Medici  were  regard- 
less of  expense  in  the  matter  of  crowns.  They 
objected  to  wear  crowns  of  which  even  the  jewels 

'  She  was  the  daughter   of  Antonio    Martelli,   a    man    in    liiunlilf 
circumstances  livinj;  in  the  Via  de'  Servi. 
^  "  First  Grand  Duke  of  Ktruria." 


300  COSIMO  I.  [chap. 

ornamenting  them  had  been  worn  by  their  pre- 
decessors ;  and  each  JNIedici  Grand  Duke  was 
buried  wearing  his  actual  crown,  not  an  imitation 
of  it,  and  with  his  jewelled  sceptre  by  his  side,  an 
entirely  fresh  crown  and  sceptre  being  made  for  his 
successor.  As  a  consequence,  when  in  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Medici  coffins 
were  plundered  by  thieves  the  latter  sought  chiefly 
for  those  of  the  Grand  Dukes.  Owing,  however,  to 
the  darkness  of  the  lower  crypt,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  coffins  on  removal  thither  had  been 
piled  together  in  diffisrent  parts  of  it  without 
any  system,  the  thieves  were  only  able  to  find  the 
coffins  of  five  out  of  the  seven  Medici  Grand  Dukes, 
those  of  Cosimo  III.  and  Gian  Gastone,  which 
had  no  distinctive  marks  on  the  outside,  escaping 
detection.  These,  however,  were  the  only  two  in 
which  the  crown  and  sceptre  were  found  wlien  the 
coffins  were  opened  in  1857  by  the  Commission 
appointed  for  the  purpose,^  that  of  Cosimo  I.  being 
among  those  found  entirely  plundered. 

"  The  body  was  dressed  in  the  robes  of  the 
Order  of  Santo  Stefano,  with  under  these  a  doublet 
of  red  satin,  and  hose  of  the  same  colour  on  the  legs. 
His  sword  was  extraordinarily  large,  and  in  the 
velvet  lining  of  the  scabbard,  hidden  by  the  gilded 
hilt,  were  enclosed  a  small  dagger  and  a  number  of 
small  stUetii,  with  very  sharp  points,  almost  as  fine  as 
needles,  stuck  into  the  lining  of  the  scabbard  as  into 
a  needle-case.  The  robbed  and  broken  coffin  did  not 
contain  the  golden  crown,  the  sceptre,  and  other 
ornaments  which  should  have  been  found  there."" 

^  See  chap,  xxxii.  p.  516. 

^  Official  Report   on   the  examination   of  the    Tombs   in    the    Medici 
Mausoleum.     1857. 


XXIV.]      CHARACTER   AND   ACHIEVEMENTS        301 

In  Cosimo  I.  the  prominent  characteristic  is 
a  pitiless  ferocity ;  no  sentiment  of  generosity, 
magnanimity,  or  mercy  ever  stirred  his  nature. 
His  enmity  worked  witli  as  little  pity,  and  as 
little  remorse,  as  a  machine.  Death,  prompt  and 
cruel,  ensued  for  all  who  failed  to  obey  his 
will,  or  thwarted  his  purposes ;  the  doors  of  the 
Bargcllo  closed  behind  them,  and  the  scaffold  in 
its  courtyard  saw  their  end.  Or  if  they  escaped 
from  Florence,  then  the  hired  assassin  was  equally 
sure.  Together  with  tliis  characteristic  there  was 
another,  of  meanness  of  character.  Among  other 
evidences  of  this  there  was  in  him,  the  son  of 
the  bravest  leader  of  troops  in  Italy,  that  want  of 
personal  courage  which  so  frequently  accompanies 
a  cruel  nature.  He  never  ventured  into  a  battle 
himself,  sending  other  men  to  risk  their  lives  for 
his  advantage ;  and  he  carefully  surrounded  him- 
self with  a  body-guard,  which  his  cruelties  made 
a  very  necessary  precaution. 

But  the  defects  of  a  cruel  and  ignoble  disposi- 
tion must  not  be  allowed  to  hide  his  undoubtedly 
great  work  for  his  country.  In  thinking  of  Tuscany, 
we  are  too  apt  to  regard  it  as  it  had  become  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  so  to  lose 
sight  of  the  prosperous  kingdom  which  Cosimo  I. 
created  in  the  sixteenth.  It  is,  indeed,  strange  to 
compare  the  small,  misgoverned,  and  insignificant 
state  which  this  son  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere 
and  Maria  Salviati  seized  by  his  bold  coup  dctat 
of  1587 — its  capital  half  ruined  by  the  long  siege 
of  1530,  its  scanty  territory  devastated  by  tlie  war, 
and  its  whole  condition  brought  to  degradation  by 
Alessandro's  five  years'  misrule  -  with  the  large  and 


302  COSIMO   I.  frHAP. 

flourishing  kingdom  which  Cosimo,  its  first  Grand 
Duke,  left  to  his  successors.  He  found  Tuscany 
a  small  and  despised  state,  dependent  on  a  foreign 
power,  without  troops,  commerce,  agriculture,  or 
resources,  with  ruined  towns,  a  wasted  country, 
and  a  poverty-stricken  population.  He  left  her 
a  large  and  independent  kingdom,  with  a  power- 
ful army,  a  rising  fleet,  flourishing  manufactures, 
wide  commerce,  sound  laws,  model  public  works, 
a  well-ordered  administration,  and  a  thriving 
people.  He  successfully  resisted  the  most  power- 
ful Pope  of  his  time,  and  governed  three  others 
in  succession ;  he  saved  Tuscany  from  becoming, 
like  Milan,  a  province  of  Spain ;  and  he  made 
her  the  leading  state  in  Italy.  There  is  probably 
no  other  example  of  so  small  a  state  advancing 
within  a  period  of  some  thirty  years  to  a  position 
of  power  and  importance  scarcely  inferior  to  most 
of  the  monarchies  of  the  time. 

It  is  this  comparison  between  what  he  found 
and  what  he  left  which  gives  the  true  measure 
of  Cosimo  I.  In  ability  he  did  not  fall  far  short 
of  those  earlier  Medici  who  had  advanced  Florence 
over  the  heads  of  all  her  rivals  in  their  time  and 
made  her  the  artistic  and  intellectual  capital  of 
Italy.  It  would  have  been  well  had  he  shown 
also  those  other  qualities  of  character  which  they, 
in  addition  to  their  abilities,  had  possessed,  of  a 
generous  and  high  -  minded  spirit,  readiness  to 
forgive  injuries,  mercy  to  enemies,  courtesy  of 
demeanour,  and  sympathy  with  the  people ;  but 
these  qualities  were  foreign  to  his  nature,  and  his 
rule  was  that  of  an   iron-handed  tyranny. 

It  was  Florence's  own  deliberate  action  which 


.]       WHAT   FOUND   AND   WHAT   LEFT 


303 


had  brought  that  tyranny  upon  her.  On  Ales- 
sandro's  death  she  could,  if  she  would,  have  rein- 
stated her  Republic.  Completely  untrannnelled, 
and  under  no  pressure  from  any  direction,  she 
deliberately  of  her  own  will  subjected  lierself  to 
the  rule  of  a  tyrant. 

But  tyrant  as  he  was,  the  effects  of  his  tyranny 
did  not  fall  upon  the  mass  of  the  people.  And 
by  his  even  -  handed  justice,  his  strong  gov^ern- 
ment,  capable  administration,  sound  fiscal  laws, 
and  advancement  of  tlie  material  prosperity  of  the 
country,  Cosimo  I.  made  the  condition  of  tlie 
inhabitants  of  Tuscany  one  altogether  superior 
to  any  which  they  had  ever  known  before. 


Arms  of  the  Medici  Grand  Dukes,  w\ih  the  crowii  above  the  pn/le 


CHAPTER  XXV 


FRANCIS  I. 


Bom  1.541.     (Reigned  1574-1587.)     Died  1587. 

The  knell  of  the  Medici  fortunes  has  struck ; 
though  muffled  at  first,  its  distant  tolling  can 
henceforth  be  heard  in  the  midst  of  all  their 
grandeur.  Almost  from  the  very  day  that  the 
crown,  striven  after  for  so  many  years,  first  by 
Giulio  and  then  by  Cosimo,  was  gained,  this 
family's  deterioration,  both  in  abilities  and  char- 
acter, set  in.  The  crown  now  set  above  the  palle 
in  the  family  arms  becomes  but  the  signal  of 
departing  glory.  For  one  hundred  and  seventy 
years  we  have  seen  the  Medici  steadily  climbing 
upwards ;  for  the  next  hundred  and  seventy  years 
we  see  them  sinking  steadily  down  to  their  end. 
There  were  pauses  in  that  downward  course,  but 
its  general  tendency  was  ever  the  same.  And 
with  Francis  I.,  the  eldest  son  of  Cosimo,  that 
decline  begins. 

It  had  begun  five  years  before  he  actually  came 
to  the  throne.  Cosimo  from  the  time  that  he 
gained  the  rank  of  Grand  Duke  gave  up  practically 
the  entire  government  of  the  state  to  Francis,  and, 
adopting  an  unworthy  style  of  life,  apparently 
disregarded  the  fact   that  his  son's  negligent  rule 

304 


CHAP.  XXV.]  RAPID    DEGENERATION  305 

was  sowing  the  seeds  of  serious  harm  to  the 
administration  of  the  country.  The  natural  result 
ensued  with  extreme  rapidity,  and  within  two 
years  of  Cosimo's  death  misrule  and  corruption 
were  rampant  in  every  department  of  the  State. 
Disorganisation  in  the  administration  of  the  police, 
and  corruption  in  the  judicial  tribunals,  soon  pro- 
duced an  enormous  growth  of  crime  ;  and  Francis's 
reign  of  thirteen  years  became  a  continuous  record 
of  bad  government  and  social  demoralisation.  So 
that  Tuscany,  which  under  a  good  government 
might  have  escaped  the  general  tendencies  of  the 
time,  under  a  bad  one  did  not  fail  to  exemplify 
those  tendencies. 

At  that  period  an  intense  ferocity  appeared  to 
have  seized  upon  mankind.  All  regard  ior  human 
life  seemed  to  have  disappeared  from  Europe  in 
the  bitter  passions  which  the  religious  wars  and 
persecutions  had  stirred  up.  JMen  had  grown 
ruthless  in  their  familiarity  with  torture  and  death, 
and  wherever  we  look,  whether  it  be  in  France, 
Spain,  England,  the  Netherlands,  or  Germany,  a 
ferocious  and  merciless  cruelty,  with  a  disregard 
for  all  justice,  is  the  prevailing  characteristic 
of  the  time,  with  murders  and  torturings  as 
matters  of  common  daily  life.  Tuscany,  under 
the  misrule  of  Francis  I.,  had  her  share  of  these 
experiences,  and  was  only  so  far  fortunate  in 
that  they  were  not  made  still  worse  by  the 
scourge  of  war ;  Italy,  though  it  shared  in  the 
general  demoralisation  of  the  age,  was  (owing 
to  the  settlement  made  by  the  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis)  able  to  look  on  whilst  almost  every 
other  country  was  torn  by  a  strife  which  seemed 

VOL.  II.  u 


^06  FRANCIS   I.  t^HAP. 

to  turn  the  wars  of  the  time  into  the  conflicts  of 
tigers. 

One  result  of  this  state  of  things  was  the  view 
taken  regarding  the  assassination  of  those  upon 
whom  a  sentence  of  death  had  been  passed.  Rulers 
such  as  Cosinio  I.  and  Francis  I.  looked  upon 
hired  assassins  very  much  as  if  they  were  execu- 
tioners ;  and  such  rulers  seem  to  have  seen  no 
difference  between  this  mode  of  putting  out  of 
life  a  man  whose  death  had  been  decreed  and  that 
of  the  formal  execution  of  a  condemned  prisoner. 
Even  escape  to  another  country  procured  no 
safety,  since  such  assassins  penetrated  into  all 
countries  in  pursuit  of  their  victim.  Murder 
and  tragedy  were  thus  ever  present ;  while  each 
event  of  the  kind  was  multiplied  fourfold  in  the 
imaginations  of  the  people. 

Francis  I.  was  thirty-three  years  old  when  he 
succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  fine  portrait  of 
him^  which  was  painted  by  Paolo  Veronese,  and 
hangs  in  the  state  apartments  of  the  Pitti  Palace, 
shows  him  as  he  was  at  about  the  age  of  thirty- 
five  ;  he  wears  the  Order  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
and  on  his  cloak  the  cross  of  the  Order  of  Santo 
Stefano.  He  porsessed  much  the  same  character 
as  his  father  Cosimo,  and  had  brilliant  mental  gifts, 
but  whereas  his  father's  chief  interest  had  been 
the  advancement  of  Tuscany,  that  of  Francis  was 
science ;  and  this  made  all  the  difference  possible 
to  the  country,  since  he  refused  to  be  drawn  from 
his  favourite  pursuit  to  attend  to  public  affairs, 
which    consequently    lapsed    into    the    condition 

1  Plate  LXI. 


XXV.]  DISLIKE  OF  STATE  AFFAIRS  307 

which  has  been  noted.  At  the  same  time  he 
inherited  his  father's  tyrannical  disposition  towards 
the  upper  classes ;  with  the  result  that  this,  when 
combined  with  general  corruption  in  the  adminis- 
tration and  a  defective  fiscal  policy  caused  a  hatred 
to  grow  up  against  Francis  which  exceeded  even 
that  which  had  been  felt  against  Cosimo.  And 
this  excessive  hatred  created  a  fruitful  soil  for 
the  growth  of  every  story  of  crime  against  Francis 
which  fertile  brains  could  originate.  One  of  the 
latter's  minor  tyrannies  was  exercised  towards  his 
father's  morganatic  wife,  Camilla  JNlartelli.  On 
succeeding  to  the  throne,  Francis,  as  the  head  of 
the  family,  having,  according  to  the  laws  of  Italy 
at  that  time,  powers  of  life  and  death  over  all  its 
members,  consigned  Camilla  to  incarceration  in 
a  convent ;  and  there  she  remained  for  the  rest 
of  her  life.  The  high  taxes  which  he  imposed  on 
corn  were  specially  disastrous  to  the  agricultural 
colonies  planted  by  his  fatlier  to  reclaim  the  waste 
lands  of  the  JNIaremma,  which  colonies  as  a  result 
were  ruined,  and  these  lands  again  became  waste. 
On  the  other  hand,  Francis  continued  liis  father's 
plans  for  the  development  of  Leghorn  ;  but  the 
chief  steps  in  this  work  were  taken  subsequently 
by  his  brother  Ferdinand,  and  the  great  success 
achieved  belongs  to  the  reign  of  the  latter. 

In  each  generation,  from  the  time  of  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae  in  1428  to  that  of  Francis  I.  in  1575, 
every  new  head  of  the  house  had  to  meet  an  attack 
led  by  one  or  other  of  the  principal  families  of 
Florence.  That  which  came  upon  Francis  was 
dealt  with  by  him  with  less  rigour  llian  his  father 
had    displayed    in    1537,   but   nevertheless    with   a 


308  FRAN'CIS   I.  [chap. 

severity  whicli  brought  him  into  great  odium.  In 
the  first  year  of  his  reign  he  discovered  a  wide- 
spread plot  to  assassinate  him,  which  had  been 
formed  by  various  members  of  the  Pucci,  Ridolfi, 
Capponi,  and  JNIachiaveUi  famihes.  When  dis- 
covered by  Francis  it  was  asserted  that  the  plot 
had  been  abandoned ;  and  this  appears  to  have 
been  true.  Nevertheless  he  proceeded  to  deal 
out  the  severest  punishment.  All  who  had  been 
concerned  in  the  plot  who  did  not  make  their 
escape  were  seized  and  put  to  death ;  many  other 
persons  declared  to  have  been  privy  to  it  were 
also  punished  ;  and  a  vigorous  confiscation  of  all 
property  connected  with  them  took  place.  The 
result  was  that  a  large  number  of  the  principal 
Florentine  families  were  brought  to  degradation ; 
which  created  an  undying  hatred  against  Francis 
among  all  the  well-to-do  classes  of  Florence. 
It  was  an  inauspicious  beginning  to  a  new 
reign. 

On  the  ruler  of  Tuscany  becoming  a  crowned 
head,  all  the  ceremonial  of  the  court  of  a  reigning 
sovereign  had  been  introduced ;  and  Francis, 
probably  chiefly  to  gratify  the  desire  of  his  wife, 
the  Archduchess  Joanna,  kept  up  a  great  deal 
more  state  than  his  father  had  done.  The  court 
was  maintained  almost  on  the  lines  of  that  of 
Spain,  which  Francis  made  in  all  particulars  his 
model. 

"  A  number  of  gentlemen,  divided  in  two 
departments,  attended  to  the  various  branches  of 
the  household ;  sixty  pages  from  the  principal 
families  of  Italy  and    Germany  were   maintained 


PLATE  I,.\r. 


riJANcIs    I.,    i;i,l>i:-l'    -n\     n|-    M)-.|Mn    I. 
Wv    I'.ioln   \  Cl-cilicsc. 


Broffi] 


.S7<//.'  A/>iiitiii.-iif.<.  I'itii  I'uhi.i- 


ri.ATK    I, XII. 


Aliit'iri , 


PIKTRO.     KIFTll    SON     (IK    lOSIMO    J. 

By  Bronzino. 


UJiz;  Galhry. 


XXV.]  ELEONORA   THE   YOUNGER  309 

and  educated  at  the  palace  in  all  the  accomplish- 
ments and  depravity  of  the  day,  but  still  without 
neglectinoj  the  arts  and  sciences,  or  the  use  of 
arms,  equitation,  and  all  the  various  acquirements 
of  a  gentleman."^ 

In  1570  the  Emperor  Maximilian  IT.  (Francis's 
brother-in-law),  without  making  any  allusion  to 
the  action  which  the  Pope  had  taken  in  the  matter 
seven  years  before,  not  only  formally  conferred 
on  Francis  the  rank  of  Grand  Duke,  but  created 
Tuscany  a  Grand  Duchy,  which  the  Pope  liad  been 
unable  to  do.  A  few  months  later  JVlaximilian  1 1 . 
died,  and  was  succeeded  as  Emperor  by  his  eldest 
son,  Rudolph  II.- 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  1.576,  the  second 
year  of  Francis's  reign,  two  terrible  tragedies  in 
his  family  occurring  within  one  week  cast  a  black 
pall  over  the  Ducal  palace.  Tlie  family  at  this 
time  consisted  of  Francis,  with  his  wife  Joanna 
and  their  children,  his  youngest  brother  Pietro 
(married  two  years  before  to  a  niece  of  their 
mother,  named  like  her  Eleonora  di  Toledo),  and 
his  sister  Isabella.  The  latter  had  continued  to  live 
at  Florence  after  her  father  Cosimo's  death,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  her  husband,  the  l*rince  of  Bracciano, 
not  being  of  a  nature  to  cause  lier  to  desire  to 
make  the  Orsini  palace  at  ]{ome  her  residence. 
Cardinal  Ferdinand,  their  remaining  brother,  lived 
at  Rome. 

Pietro,^  the  youngest  of  the  eight  cliildren  of 

^  Napier's  Florentine  Ilisfori/,  v.   '.VH't. 

^  In  this  same  year  died  Giorpo  Vasari,  liistorian,  painter,  and 
architect,  and  author  of  the  Lives  of  tht  I'ainters,  Sculptor,^,  and 
Architects. 

'  Plate  LXII. 


310  FRANCIS  I.  [chap. 

Cosimo  and  Eleonora,  deprived  of  his  mother  at 
eight  years  old,  and  dishked  by  his  brothers,  had 
grown  up  passionate,  jealous,  dissolute,  and  with- 
out a  redeeming  quality  of  any  kind,  and  was 
now  twenty-two.  His  young  wife  Eleonora,  by 
this  time  nearly  twenty,  was  universally  pitied 
when  at  fifteen  she  came  to  Florence,  a  very 
beautiful  and  innocent  young  girl,  to  be  married  to 
him.  This  ill-assorted  young  couple  lived  in  the 
Medici  palace  in  the  Via  Larga.  Pietro,  altogether 
given  up  to  an  evil  life,  had  a  distaste  for 
matrimony,  and  from  the  first  treated  Eleonora  as 
badly  as  possible.  He  scandalised  even  the  society 
of  that  time  by  his  disgraceful  orgies,  while  his 
young  wife  was  left  neglected  and  an  object  of  pity. 
The  natural  results  followed.  Eleonora,  made  for 
love,  but  cast  aside  and  neglected,  fell  in  love  with 
an  agreeable  and  handsome  youth  of  about  her 
own  age,  Bernardino  Antinori.  Not  long  after- 
wards one  of  his  friends  quarrelled  with  Bernardino 
and  attacked  him  in  the  narrow  passage  ^  running 
along  the  south  side  of  the  Strozzi  palace  ;  and 
Bernardino  in  defending  his  life  killed  his  assailant. 
He  at  once  gave  himself  up  to  the  authorities,  and 
was  confined  as  a  prisoner  in  the  palace  of  his 
family  until  the  Grand  Duke's  pleasure  regarding 
him  should  be  known.  Eleonora,  fearing  for  his 
Ufe,  was  wild  with  grief,  and  regardless  of  appear- 
ances drove  round  and  round  the  Antinori  palace  ^ 
in  the  hope  of  seeing  and  speaking  with  him  at 
some  window  ;  but  failed  to  see  him.     Bernardino 

^  Now  closed. 

2  The  palace  which  stands  at  the  end  of  the  Via  Tornabuoni 
(nearly  opposite  the  church  of  San  Gaetano),  and  is  now  Messrs 
Haskard's  bank. 


XXV.]  ELEONORA'S   TRAGIC  FATE  311 

was  exiled  to  Elba ;  from  thence  he  despatched  a 
letter  to  Eleonora  by  what  he  supposed  a  trust- 
worthy hand,  but  through  a  chapter  of  accidents 
the  letter  was  taken  to  P'rancis,  and  at  once  caused 
Bernardino's  condemnation  to  death.  He  was 
brought  back  to  Florence,  consigned  to  the 
Bargello,  given  only  one  hour  to  prepare  for 
death,  and  executed  on  the  20th  June.  Eleonora's 
own  fate  followed  quickly.  On  the  11th  July 
she  received  a  summons  from  Pietro  to  meet  him 
at  the  villa  of  Cafaggiolo  ^  (about  fifteen  miles  from 
Florence  on  the  Faenza  road),  leaving  her  four- 
year-old  son,  Cosimo,  in  Florence.  Dreading  the 
worst  she  embraced  her  little  son  again  and  again 
in  an  agony  of  tears  and  then  set  out  for  Cafjiggiolo 
"  plunged  in  grief  and  with  a  trembling  [leart. " 
She  reached  there  in  the  evening.  Pietro  made 
her  sup  with  him,  and  then  drawing  his  sword 
killed  her.^  Her  body  was  at  once  placed  in  a 
coffin,  and  carried  that  same  night  into  Florence, 
where  it  was  buried  in  the  New  Sacristy  in 
San  Lorenzo.  There  thirty-two  years  afterwards 
it  was  seen  when  in  1608  the  work  on  the  new 
mausoleum  was  being  executed.  Francesco  Setti- 
manni  in  his  diary  says : — 

"  The  writer  from  whom  this  account  lias 
been  taken  adds  that  in  tlie  year  1008  he  saw  the 
body  of  the  said  Lady  Eleonora  on  the  occasion 
when  it  was  exhumed  from  the  New  Sacristy  and 
carried  to  the  vault  ;*  and  that  she  was  as  beautiful 

]  See  p.  338. 

"■'It  was  asserted  tliat  tliis  murder  of  his  sister-iii-law  was  executed 
by  Francis's  order. 

■■  Tliat  relating  the  deatlis  of  Bernardino  Antinuri  and  liieononi. 

*  Eitlier  tiie  crypt  of  tlie  mausoleum  tlien  l>einir  cdnstructed 
(.see  chap.  xxvi.  p.  3.'),5),  or  more  probably  tiie  adjoininj,^  crypt  of  tlie 
churcli  of  San   Lorenzo. 


312  FRANCIS   I.  [•^"AP 

as  if  living,  without  the  corpse  being  in  the  least 
corrupted^  or  injured,  and  appeared  exactly  as  if 
sleeping,  and  was  dressed  all  in  white."  ^ 

Eleonora's  little  son,  Cosimo,  died  a  few  months 
after  his  mother,  and  is  buried  in  one  corner  of 
the  mausoleum.^ 

This  story  of  Eleonora's  murder  is  that  which 
has  always  been  believed,  and  it  is  to  some  extent 
corroborated  by  the  fact  that  there  is  no  tablet  to 
her  memory  in  the  family  mausoleum.  At  the 
same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  story 
did  not  appear  until  a  subsequent  generation,  and 
is  not  authenticated  in  any  way ;  ^  so  that  we  may 
be  doing  both  Fietro  and  Francis  a  severe  injustice 
if  we  accept  it  as  undoubtedly  true.  At  the  time 
it  occurred  her  death  was  declared  to  have  been 
due  to  heart  disease  ;  while  it  is  noticeable  that  the 
writer  who  describes  having  seen  her  body  thirty- 
two  years  afterwards  in  so  perfect  a  state  of  pre- 
servation saw  no  sign  of  wounds  ;  which  is  peculiar 
if  she  were  killed  with  the  sword  in  the  manner 
which  had  been  related  by  him.  After  this  episode 
Fietro  was  sent  by  Francis  to  the  court  of  Spain, 
where    he    resided    almost    entirely   for   the   rest 

^  Tliis  shows  that  there  was  no  hurried  burial^  time  having  been 
given  for  the  body  to  be  embalmed. 

^  Diurio  del  iSettimanni,  State  Archives,  Florence. 

^  'When  in  1857  his  coffin  was  opened  the  body  was  found  "  clothed 
in  white  velvet  embroidered  with  gold  thread,  and  having  on  the  head 
a  little  cap  of  black  velvet  surrounded  with  a  circlet  of  flowers  in  metal 
filigree-work.  On  a  tablet  of  silver  fixed  beliind  the  head  was  an 
inscription  saying,  '  Cosimo,  son  of  Pietro,  and  grandson  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Cosimo  I.,  called  away  at  four  years  old.  Snatclied  from  a  great 
fortune.  Born  into  this  world  in  February  loTl-  Alas  how  quickly 
commanded  to  leave  it,  September  1576.  '  " 

*  Francesco  Settimanni  himself  was  a  strong  anti-Mediceau. 


XXV.]  ISABELLA  313 

of  his  life,  becoming  as  much  liated  there 
as  he  was  in  Florence,  and  a  constant  thorn  in 
the  side  of  Tuscany.^ 

Five  days  after  this  sudden  death  of     jsabeiia 
Francis's  sister-in-law  a  second  dreadful 
occurrence  took  place  in  connection  with  his  sister 
Isabella.     In  this  case  a  Medici  was  the  victim,  not 
the  perpetrator,  of  the  crime. 

Isabella'  was  the  most  beautiful  of  the  three 
daughters  of  Cosimo  I.  and  Eleonora  di  Toledo. 
Clever,  and  highly  accomplished,  she  was  also  of 
a  kind-hearted  disposition,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  the  only  one  of  the  family  who  showed 
kindness  to  Bianca  Capello.^ 

"  Wit,  beauty,  and  talent  made  her  conspicuous 
among  all  the  ladies  of  the  day,  and  she  captivated 
every  heart  but  her  husband's.  Speaking  French, 
Spanish,  and  Latin  fluently,  a  perfect  musician, 
singing  beautifully,  a  poetess  and  hnprovisatnce  by 
nature,  Isabella  was  the  soul  of  all  around  her,  and 
the  fairest  star  of  the  Medici."* 

But  it  was  her  fate  to  be  involved  in,  and  to  be 
the  first  victim  of,  a  celebrated  fourfold  tragedy 
which  caused  the  ruin  of  the  great  house  of  Orsini. 
She  was  now  thirty-four,  and  had  been  for  eighteen 
years  married  to  Paolo  Giordano  Orsini,  J^rince  of 
Bracciano,  the  head  of  the  most  powerful  family 
in  Rome,  a  race  who  for  generations  had  made 
and  unmade  popes  and  intermarried  witli  kings. 
and  who  possessed  fortresses  and  domains  all 
over    Italy.     The     tragedy     in     which      Isabella's 

»  He  died  in  Spain  in   lOlU.  -  Tlatc   LXIII. 

»  Pasfe  322. 

*  Oriyine  e  Descendeiiza  de  Mi-dki,  State  Airliives,  I'lori'iice. 


314  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

life  terminated  is  that  eonnected  witli  Vittoria 
Accoramboni,  the  four  persons  who  all  lost 
their  lives  in  it  being  Francesco  Peretti  (Vittoria's 
husband),  Vittoria  herself,  Paolo  Giordano  Orsini, 
and  Isabella  de'  Medici. 

Vittoria  Accoramboni,  young,  beautiful,  vain, 
and  ambitious,  had  captivated  Orsini,  who,  in- 
dolent, pleasure  -  seeking,  and  no  longer  young, 
cared  nothing  for  the  wife  whom  he  left  to  live 
in  Florence  while  he  spent  his  time  in  Rome. 
Vittoria,  fired  with  the  ambition  of  being  the 
Princess  of  Bracciano,  practically  told  Orsini,  who 
was  infatuated  with  her,  that  he  must  kill  her 
husband  and  his  own  wife,  and  marry  her.  He, 
as  head  of  the  house  of  Orsini,  with  absolute 
powers  of  life  and  death  over  all  members  of  his 
family,  saw  no  difficulty,  and  proceeded  to  carry 
out  her  injunctions,  by  first  putting  to  death 
Isabella,  and  then,  as  soon  as  opportunity  offered, 
by  similarly  disposing  of  Peretti 

Isabella,  who  had  some  suspicion  of  danger  to 
herself,  had  written  to  Catherine  de'  Medici  begging 
her  to  afford  her  an  asylum,  as  nowhere  in  Italy 
could  she  be  safe  from  the  far-reaching  power  of 
Orsini ;  and  Catherine  had  rephed  agreeing  to  do 
so,  and  had  made  arrangements  to  receive  her ; 
but  it  was  too  late.  On  the  IGth  July,  Isabella, 
already  horror-stricken  at  her  young  sister-in-law's 
sudden  death  a  few  days  before,  and  made  still  more 
uneasy  by  her  husband's  unexpected  and  mysterious 
arrival  at  Florence,  accompanied  him  by  his  request 
to  their  villa  of  Cerreto  Guidi,  near  Empoli.  She 
went  with  great  misgivings,  which  she  confided  on 
the  way  thither  to  her  friend,  Lucrezia  Frescobaldi, 


XXV.]  A    DARK   STORY  SI  5 

whom  she  took  with  her.  When  they  retired 
after  supper  to  their  own  apartments  for  the 
night,  her  husband  Orsini,  while  pretending  to 
kiss  Isabella,  suddenly  slipped  a  noose  round  her 
beautiful  neck,  and  after  a  violent  struggle  strangled 
her.  He  had  prepared  for  this  crime  by  making 
a  hole  in  the  ceiling  of  the  room  and  stationing 
four  men  in  the  room  above,  from  which  a  rope 
with  a  noose  at  the  end  of  it  was  let  down  through 
the  hole  and  concealed  behind  the  curtains  of  the 
window  until  the  moment  came  that  it  was  re(|uired. 
The  room  being  intentionally  kept  rather  dark 
this  passed  unobserved  by  Isabella,  enabling  him 
to  effect  successfully  his  cruel  purpose.^  It  was 
given  out  that  she  had  died  from  a  fit  of 
apoplexy  while  bathing  her  head.-  This  was 
followed  in  due  time  by  the  assassination  of 
Peretti,  Orsini  sending  a  party  of  his  soldiers  to 
seize  and  kill  the  latter  at  the  Villa  Negroni  in 
Rome,  where  Peretti  was  betrayed  into  their 
hands  by  Vittoria  and  killed. 

The  sequel  is  well  known.  Pope  Gregory 
XIII. ,^  "guessing  how  and  why  these  two  had 
met  their  deaths, "  refused  to  allow  Orsini  to 
marry  the  widowed  \^ittoria.  Orsini  defied  the 
Pope,  and  went  through  a  mock  marriage.  The 
Pope  then  sent  troops  to  arrest  the  murderer  of 
Peretti,  but   the    Orsini   retainers    beat  them   off. 

^  The  room^  with  tlio  hole  in  tlie  ceiling',  and  a  rope  .showiup  liow 
the  crime  was  cxociiteil,  is  still  to  he  .seen  in  tlie  villfi  of  Ceretto  (iiiitli. 

'^  She  was  huricd  in  San  Lorenzo,  hut  there  is  no  tahlet  to  her  nieniorv 
in  the  family  mausoleum.  Tlie  diary  of  interments  kej^it  in  that  church 
mentions  that  the  body  when  liroujrlit  for  burial  was  disfigured  {sfigurato) 
owing  to  the  manner  of  her  death. 

^  The  I'ojx'  who  irformed  the  calendar.  'Hie  new  calendar  (involving 
the  dropping  of  twelve  days)  came  into  operation  in  .Fanuary  IfiBS. 


316  FRANCIS    I.  [chap. 

Eventually  \nttoria  was  seized  and  imprisoned 
in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  but  escaped ;  for  four 
years  the  struggle  went  on,  Orsini  and  Vittoria 
living  at  Bracciano,  outside  the  Pope's  jurisdiction. 
Then  Gregory  XIII.  died  (1585) ;  whereupon 
they  came  to  Rome  to  be  married  before  another 
Pope  should  be  elected,  and  the  ceremony  was 
hastily  performed  in  the  small  family  church 
inside  the  Orsini  fortress.  Within  a  few  liours  to 
their  horror  it  was  proclaimed  that  the  Cardinal 
of  Montalto,  Francesco  Peretti's  uncle,  had  been 
elected  as  the  new  Pope ;  and  they  had  to  face 
the  terrible  Sixtus  V.,  bent  upon  exacting 
vengeance  for  his  nephew's  murder.  Orsini  fled 
to  Venice,  was  exiled,  and  then,  broken  in  heart 
at  the  ruin  of  his  family,  died,  after  making  a  will 
leaving  his  remaining  property  to  ^^ittoria,  who 
had  fled  to  Padua.  But  her  husband's  nearest 
relation,  Ludovico  Orsini,  enraged  at  the  property 
being  left  to  her,  suddenly  burst  into  her  house 
at  midnight  six  weeks  later  with  a  party  of  masked 
men,  and  she  was  stabbed  to  the  heart.  Venice, 
however,  did  not  permit  such  acts  of  private  war, 
and  a  week  afterwards  Ludovico  Orsini  was  himself 
arrested  and  put  to  death ;  and  the  ruin  of  the 
great  Orsini  family  was  complete.  They  never 
again  recovered  their  former  power.^ 


_  In   1578    Francis's  first  wife,  Joanna    of 

o:        Austria,"  died,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one. 
ustna.  gj^^    j^^j    been    married   thirteen  years, 

^  The   account  of  the   later   stashes   of  this   affair  is  dra\vn   from 
Mr   Marion   Crawford's   Ave   Roma   Immortalis. 

'^  Plate  LXIV.     Regarding  the  statue  of  her,  see  p.  319. 


ri.ATK    I.XIII. 


ISAUKl.l.A     l)i;      Afi;!)!!!.     KAIi.HTKU    111'    (OSI.AKI    I., 
I'KIM   KSS    111'     ItllAI"  lAMI. 

r„ui.n,  M..i„ii:,.H. 


iPLATE    J, XIV. 


.1 /<■,<«/■/] 


XXV.]  JOANNA   OF   AUSTRIA  317 

and  had  not  had  a  happy  life.  She  had  no  qualities 
to  make  her  either  liked  by  her  husband  or  popular 
with  the  Tuscan  people,  being  plain  in  appearance, 
of  a  cold  nature,  without  personal  charm,  and  im- 
bued with  a  great  deal  of  Austrian  j^i'ide ;  and 
this  first  Grand  Duchess  of  Tuscany^  did  not 
hide  her  contempt  for  the  Tuscan  monarchy,  and 
the  Tuscan  people.  Francis  had  never  shown 
her  the  least  affection,  and  during  the  whole  of 
their  married  life  was  dev^oted  to  Bianca  Capello, 
with  whom  he  had  been  in  love  before  his  marriage 
to  Joanna,  and  whom  after  the  latter's  death  he 
married ;  and  the  unceasing  complaints  wiiich 
Joanna  addressed  to  her  brother,  the  Emperor 
Maximilian,  on  the  subject  of  her  husband's 
behaviour  did  not  make  matters  go  more  smoothly. 
Joanna's  six  children  were  Eleonora  (born  in 
1565),  Romola  (born  1566),  Isabella  (born  1567), 
Anna  (born  1569),  Maria  (born  1573),  and  Filippo 
(born  1577) ;  but  only  two  of  these,  Eleonora  and 
Maria,  survived  childhood,  while  Romola  and 
Isabella  died  before  their  mother.  There  is  a 
peculiarity  about  both  the  portraits  of  Joanna 
in  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  In  both  she  is  shown 
with  her  little  son  Filippo.  He  was  only  ten 
months  old  when  his  mother  died  ;  ^  yet  in  the 
portrait  of  her  shown  in  this  book  he  is  repre- 
sented as  a  child  about  two  years  old,  and  in 
her  other  portrait  as  about  four  years  old.  Unless, 
therefore,    these    portraits    of    her    were    painted 

^  Eleonora  di  Toledo  was  never  Grand  Duchess,  her  husband 
gainiua:  the  rank  of  Grand   Duke  after  her  death. 

^  As  can  he  seen  hv  tlie  dates  on  their  respective  tombs  in  tlie 
family  mausoleum,  Filijux)  being  born  in  June  1577,  and  his  mother 
dying  iu  April  lo7ii. 


318  FRANCIS   I.  [chap 

several  years  after  her  deatli  (and  after  Francis 
had  married  another  wife),  which  is  extremely 
unHkely,  it  would  seem  that  the  fifi^ure  of  the 
child  must  have  been  added  afterwards ;  thougli 
with  what  object,  since  he  died  at  the  age  of  five, 
is  not  apparent.  Joanna  of  Austria  was  buried 
in  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo;  and  when  in  1857 
the  Medici  coffins  were  opened  her  body  was  found 
so  well  preserved  by  the  embalming  process 
employed  as  to  appear  only  just  buried,  even  the 
colour  of  the  face  being  unaltered.^ 

The  year  after  Joanna's  death  Francis  married 
Bianca  Capello,  whose  unvarying  lover  he  had  been 
for  fifteen  years.  The  remaining  nine  years  of 
his  reign  were  almost  entirely  devoid  of  incident, 
either  political  or  domestic,  and  his  interests 
became  more  and  more  centred  in  those  studies 
in  natural  science  to  which  he  was  devoted. 
Francis  had  an  absolute  passion  for  chemistry 
and  natural  science.  By  far  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  was  spent  in  his  laboratory ;  and 
so  reluctant  was  he  to  be  drawn  away  from  his 
experiments  that  he  would  often  give  audience 
to  his  Secretaries  of  State  standing  before  his 
furnace,  bellows  in  hand.  It  was  he  who  first 
discovered   the   method   of  melting   rock   crystal, 

'■  "  Her  blonde  hair  was  dressed  in  the  fashion  of  the  time  ;  in  her 
ears  were  p^old  ear-rings  with  small  gold  clasps  ;  her  dress,  on  which 
were  fixed  a  number  of  gold  orange  leaves,  was  of  crimson  satin,  with  a 
wide  band  of  velvet  of  the  same  colour,  embroidered  with  gold,  running 
along  the  petticoat,  as  well  as  along  its  inside  edge.  She  had  also 
a  bodice  of  rose  colour,  stockings  of  red  silk,  and  velvet  shoes, 
embroidered  with  gold,  cut  in  a  peculiar  fashion  and  with  very  high 
heels.  On  a  leaden  plate  behind  her  liead  was  her  name  and  title 
as  Grand  Duchess,  stating  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand  I.,  and  giving  the  date  of  her  decease."  {Official  Report  on  the 
examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum      1857.) 


XXV. ]  THE   MERCURY  319 

and  he  beccame  distinguished  for  his  skill  and 
taste  in  making  vases  in  this  material,  many  of 
which  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Gem  Room  of 
the  Uffizi  Gallery.  He  was  also  the  first  to  achieve 
the  manufacture  of  porcelain  in  imitation  of  the 
Chinese,  and  he  founded  the  existing  porcelain 
industry  of  Florence  which  has  attained  much 
celebrity. 

Francis  had  also  the  usual  Medicean  fondness 
for  art  and  literature.  He  gave  liberal  encourage- 
ment to  all  artists,  and  in  particular  to  Giovanni 
da  Bologna  (1524-1608),  the  leading  sculptor  of 
the  day ;  and  it  was  for  Francis  that  the  latter 
executed  the  well-known  statue  of  Mercury,  now 
in  the  museum  of  the  Bargello.^  For  Francis  was 
also  executed  by  the  same  sculptor  the  group  of 
the  Rape  of  the  Sabines,  which  now  stands  in  the 
Loggia  de'  Lanzi,  and  the  statue  of  Abundance, 
placed  at  the  highest  point  of  the  Boboli  gardens, 
facing  the  palace,  and  said  to  represent  Francis's 
first  wife,  Joanna  of  Austria.  His  desire  to 
promote  the  cause  of  literature  resulted  in  the 
foundation  in  1582  of  the  celebrated  Accademia 
della  Crusca,  which  still  exists,  and  which  was 
founded  under  his  auspices  by  Francesco  Grazzini 
and  Leonardo  Salviati  for  the  purification  of  the 
Italian  language,  its  name  crusca  (bran)  referring 
to  the  sifting  of  the  chaff'  from  the  flour. 

1  "Who  does  not  know  the  Mercury  of  Gian  Bologiia,  tliat  airy 
youth  with  winged  feet  and  cap,  who  with  the  caduceus  in  his  liand, 
and  borne  ah)ft  upon  the  lieail  ot\.E()lus,  seems  bound  upon  some  .lovo- 
coinmissioned  errand  ?  \Viio  has  not  admired  its  lij^^litness  and  trutli 
of  momentiiry  action,  which  none  but  an  artist  skilful  in  modelling  .iiid 
well  versed  in  anatomy  could  iiave  altiined?  Since,  Mercury-like,  it 
has  winged  its  way  to  the  nniseums  and  houses  of  every  quarter  of  lh« 
globe."     (Perkins'  Tuscan  ScnljAtjrs.) 


320  FRANCIS   I.  [mjap. 

Founding    ^^^   there   was    another   work   under- 
ofthe       taken     by    Francis    which    had    more 

Ufizi  Gallery.  •  .        .  tt  j  i 

important  consequences.  He  was  the 
first  to  begin  arranging  the  building  which  we 
now  know  as  the  Uffizi  Gallery  to  adapt  it  for 
a  picture  gallery,  and  to  begin  placing  there 
some  of  the  family  collection  of  pictures.  Cosimo 
had  erected  the  lower  part  of  the  building  to 
accommodate  the  various  public  offices  of  the 
State,  and  on  the  second  storey  had  placed  ranges 
of  workshops  where  his  skilled  workmen  engraved, 
painted,  made  inlaid  tables,  executed  models  for 
statues,  distilled  essences  and  carried  on  many 
other  minor  arts.^  Above  this  second  floor  was  an 
open  loggia,  being  part  of  the  Passaggio "  leading 
from  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  to  the  Ducal  Palace  ;  this 
loggia  Francis  now  caused  to  be  enclosed  with 
glass,  placing  the  architect  and  sculptor  Buon- 
talenti  in  charge  of  the  work,  and  conveyed  there 
a  number  of  the  family  pictures  scattered  among 
their  various  villas.  Buontalenti  at  the  same 
time  executed  the  statue  of  Francis  (in  the  dress 
of  a  Roman  knight),  placed  over  the  portico  at 
the  southern  end  of  the  gallery,  facing  the  Palazzo 
Vecchio.  Thus  was  begun  a  work  which  after 
generations  of  the  Medici  made  one  of  Florence's 
greatest  possessions.  The  great  naval  war  between 
England  and  Spain,  the  terrible  conflict  in  France, 
the  battles  and  atrocities  deluging  the  Netherlands 
with  blood,  were  the  events  taking  place  in  other 
countries  while  Florence  was  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  her  great  picture  gallery ;  and  the  peace 

^  Amoug  those  who  worked  here  for  Cosimo  was  Beuveuuto  Cellini 
2  Chap.  xxiv.  p.  293. 


PLATK   I.XV. 


Ki.KoNoHA    111;    >ii:i>ii  i 


DAI  I. II  I  lit     i>\      I  It  \  Nc  I-     1. 

M\'  I'lil/.oiii. 


1)1   c  lll>v     III      M  \\  11    A. 


Drogl] 


[I'HiH.'nllefH. 


PLATE  LXVI. 


Jirogi] 


1!IAN(  A    (APEIJA),    AT    THE    A(iK    l)K    TWENTY. 

By  Titian. 

(This  picture,  formerly  in  the  Torre  del  Gallo,  has  now  disappeared.) 


XXV. ]  HIS   CHILDREN  321 

which  she  thus  enjoyed  made  her  lot  by  com- 
parison happy,  even  though  under  the  tyranny 
of  Francis  I. 

In  1582  Francis  lost  his  only  son,  Filippo,  at 
the  age  of  five.  This  was  a  serious  loss  to  him, 
as  he  had  no  children  by  his  second  wife,  and  the 
crown  would  therefore  go  at  his  death  to  his  brother 
Ferdinand,  between  whom  and  himself  there  was 
no  love  lost.  In  1583  Francis  gave  his  eldest 
daughter  Eleonora,^  now  eighteen,  in  marriage  to 
^''incenzo  Gonzaga,  Duke  of  Mantua.-  Eleonora's 
portrait  by  Pulzone,  in  the  Pitti  Gallery,  shows  her 
to  have  had  considerable  beauty.  Her  dress  is 
chiefly  remarkable  for  its  splendid  example  of  the 
well-known  Medici  collar,  which  has  round  its  edge 
a  string  of  small  pearls.  In  the  same  year 
Francis's  daughter  Anna  died  at  the  age  of 
fourteen.  Thus  out  of  his  six  children  four  had 
died  in  their  childhood,  one  daughter  was  married, 
and  there  only  remained  to  him  his  daughter  Maria, 
at  this  time  a  child  of  ten. 

Francis  I.  continued  his  father  Cosimo's  practice 
of  private  trading,  and  operating  on  a  large  scale 
amassed  great  wealth ;  and  at  his  death  a  vast 
amount  of  treasure  was  found  to  have  been  col- 
lected by  him  in  the  fortress  of  the  Belvedere. 
He  died  in  October  1587  at  the  villa  of  I'oggio  a 
Caiano  at  the  age  of  forty-six,^  his  wife  Hianca 
dying  at  the  same  time ;  and  his  brother  Ferdinand 
succeeded  to  the  throne. 

1  Plate  LXV. 

"^  Tliere  is  a  portrait  of  him  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery. 

'  See  p.  333. 

VOL.     II.  X 


322  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

BIANCA   CAPELLO 

Pom  1643.     {Became  Grand  Duchess- 157d.)     Died  1587. 

BiANCA  Capello's  romantic  history  and  celebrated 
beauty  have  made  a  great  impression  in  Italy ; 
pictures  of  her  are  numerous,  and  her  story  in 
various  forms  is  related  in  every  chronicle  of  the 
time.  And  lavish  as  has  been  the  praise  accorded 
to  her  beauty,  scarcely  less  so  has  been  the 
abuse  showered  upon  her  name.  While  she  must 
certainly  be  held  to  deserve  a  portion  of  this  con- 
demnation, by  far  the  greater  part  has  been  quite 
undeserved.  Francis  loved  her  with  a  steadfast 
affection  for  twenty-four  years,  never  showing  any 
regard  for  any  one  else  ;  and  the  deep  hatred  felt  for 
Francis  attached  itself  also  to  any  one  for  whom 
he  showed  any  regard,  and  most  of  all,  therefore, 
to  Bianca  Capello.  Added  to  this  she  was  a 
Venetian.  For  over  a  hundred  years  Venice  had 
been  Florence's  bitter  foe  and  rival ;  in  almost 
every  war  they  had  been  opposed  to  each  other ; 
every  enemy  of  Florence  found  an  asylum  out  of 
reach  of  her  wrath  at  Venice  ;  even  in  the  domain 
of  Art  they  were  rivals ;  and  no  Venetian  need 
expect  to  be  received  at  Florence  with  a  welcome. 
Lastly,  Bianca  was  throughout  life  strongly  hated 
by  Francis's  brother  Ferdinand,  who  succeeded 
him  as  Grand  Duke,  and  all  who  wished  to  curry 
favour  with  the  latter  had  an  easy  means  of  doing 
so  by  inventing  stories  against  her  after  her  death. 
These  three  causes  together  resulted  in  the  imputa- 
tion of  crimes   to   Bianca  by   the   Florentines  of 


xxv]  HER   ATTRACTIVENESS  S23 

which  her  character  was  altogether  incapable.  All 
Francis's  tyrannies  were  by  those  who  suffered 
from  them  placed  on  her  shoulders,  and  the  more 
they  hated  Francis,  the  more  tliey  attributed  the 
cause  of  his  acts  to  the  Venetian  to  whom  he  was 
so  devoted. 

Bianca  Capello^  was  the  daughter  of  one  of 
the  proudest  and  most  illustrious  of  the  nobles  of 
Venice,  Bartolommeo  Capello,  and  was  brought 
up  in  all  the  splendour  and  luxury  customary  in 
a  noble  \^enetian  family  of  that  age.  She  had 
in  a  pre-eminent  degree  that  quality  sometimes 
seen  of  an  inherent  and  unstudied  attractiveness, 
independent  of  beauty ;  while  in  her  case  to  this 
was  added  beauty  also.  It  may  be  imagined  that 
the  combination  made  her  irresistible. 

"  Grace  and  fascination  hung  round  her  move- 
ments, and  whether  grave  or  gay,  silent  or  speaking, 
quiet  or  in  motion,  she  was  always  completely 
attractive ;  while  without  any  particular  regularity 
of  features  she  concentrated  within  herself  the 
varied  influence  of  every  feminine  beauty."^ 

No  wonder  that  Titian  desired  to  paint  her  portrait, 
especially  as  in  addition  to  her  other  attractions 
she  had  hair  of  that  beautiful  auburn-red  tint  only 
seen  in  Venice,  and  so  admired  of  all  artists. 
His  portrait  of  her^  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
(Plate  LXVI.)  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
Titian's  portraits. 

About  the  year  1560,  when  Bianca  was  seven- 
teen, she  fell  in  love  with  a  youth  a  year  or  two 

'  IMate  LXVI. 

■^  Napier. 

'  Formerly  in  the  Torre  (1<'1  (iallo,  Floreiicr. 


324  FRANCIS  I.  [chap. 

older  than  herself  belonging  to  a  Florentine  family, 
named  Piero  Buenaventura,  a  gentleman  by  birth, 
but  whose  family  were  in  reduced  circumstances, 
while  he  himself  was  a  clerk  in  the  Salviati  bank, 
which  was  situated  in  one  of  the  narrow  streets 
of    Venice,    exactly   opposite   the  Capello   palace. 
Her  family  would  have  killed  her  rather  than  allow 
such  a  marriage,  and  they  were  married  secretly. 
But   an   accident   threatened    suddenly   to   reveal 
what  they  had  done,  and  they  had  at  a  moment's 
notice  to  fly   for   their   lives.       Piero  hurried  his 
young  wife  into  a  gondola,  they  escaped  by  sea, 
and  eventually  reached  Florence,  where  his  father 
and   mother  were   living   in   great   poverty.^     All 
Venice  was  horrified  at  such  an  insult  to  its  proud 
aristocracy  ;  the  Capello  family  were  powerful,  and 
the  whole  Venetian  nobility  vowed  vengeance  on 
Piero   for   his   intolerable   audacity;   a   reward   of 
2,000   ducats  was  offered  to   any  one  who  would 
murder  him,  and   his  uncle,  Giambattista  Buena- 
ventura, was   thrown   into  prison  and  there  died. 
Meanwhile,  in   Florence   Bianca  had  no  easy  lot. 
Piero's   mother  was  bedridden ;  his  father,  unable 
to  support   this   addition   of  two   extra  members 
to  his  family,  was  forced  to  discharge  their  only 
servant ;  and  the  luxuriously  brought-up  daughter 
of  a  Venetian  noble  had  to  take  the  servant's  place, 
and   become   a   household   drudge.     At  the  same 
time  fear  for   Piero's   life,  and  dread  on    Bianca's 
part   of  falling   into   her   enraged   father's   hands, 
kept  them  both  prisoners.     That  Bianca  bore  un- 
complainingly all  that  this  great  change  must  have 

^  Their  house  was  in  the  Piazza  San  Marco,  on  the  south  side,  facing 
the  church. 


XXV.]  BIANCA'S   FIRST   MARRIAGE  325 

meant  to  her  for  the  sake  of  her  love  for  Piero 
(who,  after  all,  showed  himself  a  wortliless  creature) 
speaks  well  for  her  natural  good-heartedness.  She 
was  despised,  hard  worked,  condemned  by  all,  and 
execrated  by  the  whole  aristocracy  of  Venice,  but 
she  cared  not  so  long  as  Piero  remained  true  to 
her.  During  this  time  of  their  poverty  a  daughter 
was  born  to  them,  Pellegrina  Buonaventura,  who 
afterwards  married  Ulisse  Bentiv^oglio. 

In  the  year  15G3  Francis,  then  twenty-two, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Florence,  crossing 
one  day  the  Piazza  San  Marco,  looked  up  and 
saw  Bianca  (whose  story  all  Florence  knew)  at  a 
window,  and  at  once  fell  in  love  with  her.  She 
was  then  twenty,  and  at  the  height  of  her  beauty. 
Soon  afterwards  she  was  entrapped  into  a  meeting 
with  him  at  the  house  of  the  Marchesa  Mondragone, 
the  wife  of  Francis's  Spanish  tutor,  who  lived  at 
the  house  called  the  Casino,  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Piazza  San  Marco. 

"  Startled  by  the  Prince's  sudden  and  unex- 
pected appearance  in  a  private  room,  she  fell  on 
her  knees,  declared  herself  bankrupt  of  everything 
but  honour,  and  implored  his  forbearance  and  pro- 
tection :  and  for  a  time  he  obeyed,  and  left  her 
alone."  ^ 

Soon,  however,  he  began  pursuing  her  with  his 
attentions ;  even  fears  for  Piero's  life  contributed  ; 
while  the  latter,  heartless  and  contemptible,  who 
was  tired  of  her  and  of  their  poverty-stricken  life, 
failed  to  protect  her  in  any  way,  and  accepted  an 
office  which  Francis  procured  for  him  at  the  court, 

'  'i'rollope. 


326  FRANCIS   I.  [^hap. 

and  allowed  a  palace  to  be  taken  for  them  in  the 
Via  Maggio,  near  the  Ducal  Palace.  Piero  thus 
promoted  became  proud,  insolent,  dissolute,  and 
generally  detested,  and  after  a  short  time  was  one 
evening  murdered  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  M  aggio, 
near  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita,  by  one  of  the  Ricci 
family  whom  he  had  insulted. 

Francis  remained  Bianca's  devoted  lover  all  his 
life,  and  his  marriage  to  the  Archduchess  Joanna 
of  Austria  in  December  1564,  when  Bianca  was 
twenty-one,  made  no  difference  in  this.  When 
not  at  work  in  his  laboratory,  he  spent  most  of  his 
time  at  Bianca's  house  in  the  Via  Maggio.^  The 
Archduchess  Joanna,  furious  at  this  neglect  of 
herself  in  favour  of  a  rival  so  far  beneath  her  in 
rank,  wearied  her  brother  the  Emperor  with  com- 
plaints, but  without  avail.  And  when  she  died  in 
April  1578  Francis  married  Bianca,  who  was  by 
this  time  thirty-five. 

At  first,  on  account  of  the  recent  death  of 
Joanna  of  Austria,  they  were  privately  married  in 
the  small  chapel  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  but  in 
the  following  year  this  was  succeeded  by  a  very 
magnificent  marriage  in  San  Lorenzo  ;  while  at 
the  same  time,  strange  to  say,  a  grand  ceremony 
in  honour  of  the  event  took  place  at  Venice. 
Venice,  which  had  cast  ignominy  upon  Bianca's 
very  name,  now  hastened  to  do  it  honour,  and  not 
only  received  with  a  stately  ceremonial  and  h}^o- 
critical  compliments  an  embassy  from  Florence  on 

1  Bianca  Capello's  house  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Via  Maggio  (an 
abbreviation  for  Via  Maggiore)  with  her  strange  uncouth  coat  of  arms 
over  the  entrance,  the  front  of  the  house  being  profusely  decorated 
with  frescoes.  There  is  an  underground  passage  from  it  to  the  Pitti 
Palace,  now  closed. 


PLATE  LXVII 


BI.WCA    <  MMI.I.I 


V\  mi:    <i|-     I'II.VM   I^ 

l>\    Hiiin/iiid. 


[lim 


nit!  Haf/rni. 


xxv]  BIANCA'S   SECOND   MARRIAGE  327 

the  occasion,  but  promulgated  a  public  decree  in 
Bianca's  honour,  while  the  city  of  the  Ach'iatic 
"blazed  with  countless  illuminations."  This  was 
followed  by  a  pompous  embassy  from  Venice  to 
Florence  to  invest  Bianca  "  with  the  prerogatives 
of  her  new  rank."  Bianca  was  unlike  her  pre- 
decessor in  another  respect ;  she  did  not  care  for 
ostentation  and  the  degree  of  ceremony  attaching 
to  a  high  position.  But  Francis  was  determined 
on  this  occasion  to  show  her  every  kind  of  honour 
that  he  could  devise.  There  followed  tournaments, 
bull-fights,  balls,  a  musical  drama,  feasts,  and 
every  sort  of  pastime  for  the  people,  and  finally, 
on  the  12th  October  1579,  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio,  an  imposing  ceremony  took  place 
at  which  Bianca  was  first  declared  by  the  Venetian 
ambassador  to  be  "a  true  and  particular  daughter  of 
Venice,"  and  then,  seated  by  the  side  of  her  husband 
Francis,  was  crowned  with  the  crown  of  Tuscany. 
After  which  the  whole  assembly,  led  by  the  Grand 
Duke  and  the  new  Grand  Duchess,  proceeded  in 
state  to  the  cathedral,  where  High  Mass  concluded 
the  ceremony.  Francis  spent  on  this  marriage 
300,000  ducats  :  equal  to  about  one  year's  ordinary 
revenue  of  the  ancient  Republic. 

Bianca  Capello  was  Grand  Duchess  for  nine 
years.  In  that  position  she  continued  to  be  very 
much  the  same  as  she  had  always  been,  not  show- 
ing any  exaltation  on  account  of  being  raised  to 
so  high  a  rank,  nor  any  desire  for  pomp  ;nui 
grandeur,^    and    preferring    whenever    possible    a 

1  It  is  noticeable  tliat  tlicm^xli  tliore  are  so  many  pictures  of  licr  tliere 
arc  none  in  court  dress  or  willi  tlie  crown  of  Tuscany  displayed  by  her 
side,  as  in  the  case  of  every  otiier  (irand  Duciiess. 


328  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

country  life  with  Francis  at  one  or  other  of 
their  villas,  removed  from  Florence  and  its  abuse 
of  her.  For  Francis's  tyrannies  continued  to 
heap  condemnation  upon  her  head ;  and  whatever 
untoward  event  occurred,  it  was  always  in 
some  manner  attributed  to  her.  It  is  almost 
unnecessary  to  say  that  when  Francis's  only  son 
Filippo  died  in  1582  it  was  declared  that  she 
had  poisoned  him ;  and  this  tale,  like  others  of 
the  kind,  was  handed  down  after  her  death, 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  had  she  been  guilty 
of  such  a  thing  the  suspicious  Francis  would 
certainly  have  found  it  out  and  lost  all  his 
affection  for  her ;  as  well  as  of  the  fact  that  the 
one  ruling  desire  which  governed  all  Bianca's  life 
was  to  please  him. 

But  the  people  had  another  reason  for  hating 
Bianca  Capello  and  readily  accepting  every  story 
against  her.  They  believed  her  to  be  a  witch,  and 
openly  called  her  so.  The  hint  had  not  improbably 
been  dropped  by  Ferdinand.  But  the  only  kind  of 
witchery  that  Bianca  knew  was  that  of  "  woman's 
witching  ways  " ;  and  none  ever  possessed  it  in  a 
higher  degree.  And  without  making  light  of  the 
one  great  fault  she  did  commit,  it  may  well  be 
noted  in  her  favour  that  although  possessed  of  this 
exceptional  power  of  attraction  we  never  hear, 
amidst  all  the  stories  against  her  promulgated  after 
her  death,  one  single  breath  charging  her  with 
infidelity  to  Francis :  a  significant  fact  under  the 
circumstances.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  all 
writers  credit  her,  not  only  with  considerable 
talent,  but  also  with  various  good  qualities.  Her 
portrait  by  Bronzino,  in  the  Pitti  Gallery,  at  the 


XXV.]  "HER   MOST   DEADLY   ENEMY"  329 

age  of  thirty,^  has  a  sweet  expression.  He  knew 
her  well  and  it  is  sure  to  be  a  good  likeness.  It 
must  have  been  the  last  portrait  that  Bronzino 
ever  painted,  as  he  died  very  shortly  afterwards. 
The  feeling  with  which  Bianca  was  regarded 
by  her  brother-in-law  Ferdinand,  who  lived  at 
Rome  and  was  on  bad  terms  with  Francis,  was  a 
prominent  factor  in  her  lot.  The  inclination  which 
the  Florentines  had  to  attribute  to  Bianca  every 
crime  committed,  or  imagined  to  have  been  com- 
mitted, by  Francis,  was  felt  by  Ferdinand,  "  her 
most  deadly  enemy,"  to  a  still  greater  degree  ;  and 
he  over  and  over  again  remonstrated  with  Francis 
for  having  anything  to  do  with  her,  and  endeavoured 
to  get  her  banished  from  Tuscany.  The  hatred 
he  felt  for  her  amounted  to  a  mania ;  and  his 
refusal  after  her  death  to  allow  her  body  decent 
burial,^  his  causing  her  armorial  bearings  to  be 
erased,  and  his  speaking  of  her  on  all  occasions 
in  terms  of  opprobrium  showed  how  deep  was  the 
feeling  which  (unappeased  even  by  her  death)  was 
nourished  by  him  for  so  many  years  against  her. 
When  he  became  Grand  Duke  the  time-serving 
contemporary  writers  followed  suit,  heaping  upon 
her  memory  every  possible  \'ilification,  and  hand- 
ing down  every  tale  which  a  scandal-loving  age 
could  invent  to  her  discredit ;  and  tliis  is  the  real 
origin  of  the  many  stories  which  have  passed  as  the 
history  of  Bianca  Capello.  The  true  Bianca  was 
a  less  exaggerated,  and  far  more  natural  woman. 

'  Plate  LX\'II.  There  is  a  canied  of  Bianca,  hy  Heriianlo  di 
Castel  Holoiriiose,  in  the  Barfjello  Mnsi-iini,  Florence,  which  many 
consider  to  give  a  superior  idea  of  lici-  lieaiity  to  any  portrait  which 
exists. 

2  Pages  335-33G. 


330  FRANCIS   I.  [<hap. 

She  had  many  faults,  but  they  did  not  run  in  the 
direction  of  murder  and  poison,  as  a  sensation- 
loving  populace  (ready  to  believe  anything  against 
a  Venetian)  confidently  asserted. 

After  Bianca  became  Grand  Duchess  she  sum- 
moned her  brother,  Vittorio  Capello,  to  Florence, 
and  he  soon  became  a  great  favourite  with  Francis, 
and  almost  his  sole  adviser.  This  still  further 
incensed  Ferdinand,  and  after  a  time  he  con- 
trived to  put  such  pressure  upon  his  brother  as  to 
cause  him  to  dismiss  Vittorio  Capello  again  to 
Venice.  Many  of  Bianca's  letters  to  her  brother, 
in  her  clear  bold  handwriting,  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  Florentine  archives,  and  they  show  both 
her  character  and  how  highly  educated  she  was. 
Bianca  is  reported  to  have  shown  a  good  spirit 
towards  her  brother-in-law  Ferdinand  on  various 
occasions,  constantly  endeavouring  to  reconcile 
tlie  two  brothers,  and  by  her  amiability  at  times 
succeeding  temporarily  in  doing  so ;  while  as  a  part 
of  these  endeavours  she  several  times  persuaded 
Francis  to  give  large  sums  of  money  to  Ferdinand 
to  supply  his  financial  necessities,  these  latter  being 
very  great  owing  to  his  expensive  tastes  in  the 
collection  of  the  treasures  of  Greek  art.^ 

At  last  in  1587"  came  the  end,  Francis  and 
Bianca  both  dying  together,  and  at  that  place 
which  above  all  they  would  have  chosen,  the  villa 
of  Poggio  a  Caiano.  Notable  on  many  other 
accounts,  this  villa  has  ever  since  gained  its  chief 
interest  as  the  place  where  the  lives  were  simul- 
taneously ended  of  these  two,  who,  whatever  else 

1  See  chap.  xxvi.  pp.  340-341. 

^  The  year  that  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  put  to  death. 


XXV.]  POGGIO   A   CAIANO  33J 

they  were,  had  been  unswervingly  devoted  to  each 
other  for  twenty-four  years. 

The  villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano,^  since  p 
the  days  when  it  had  been  built  by  Lorenzo  a 
the  Magnificent,  had  been  much  enlarged  ^^^^°' 
and  improved  by  successive  heads  of  the  family. 
Its  great  hall  had,  under  the  auspices  of  Leo 
X.,  been  decorated  with  frescoes  typifying  the 
deeds  of  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae  and  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent, — frescoes  which  had  been  in  succes- 
sion the  w^ork  of  Andrea  del  Sarto,  Pontormo, 
Franciabigio,  and  Allori.  The  ceiling  and  walls 
of  its  dining-room  had  been  painted  so  as  to  gi\e 
the  illusion  of  being  seated  in  a  Tuscan  garden ; 
the  reception-rooms'"  were  hung  with  portraits  of 
prominent  members  of  the  family  ;  the  wide-spread- 
ing park,  with  the  Ombrone  flowing  through  it, 
afforded  the  pleasures  of  the  chase ;  the  well  laid- 
out  gardens  were  an  unceasing  delight  to  all  who 
saw  them ;  while  from  the  broad  terrace  spread 
out  a  view  exemplifying  all  the  special  beauty  of 
a  Tuscan  landscape. 

Poggio  a  Caiano  had  always  been  a  favourite 
residence  of  Bianca  Ca])cllo,^  and  she  and  Francis 
had  spent  many  days  there  together,  hunting  in 
the  park,  riding  about  the  surrounding  country, 
and  enjoying  other  outdoor  pursuits.  In  ()ct()l)cr 
1587    they   went   there    to   enjoy    once    more    its 

^  Plate  LXVIII.     It  is  now  a  royal  villa  of  the  King  of  Italv. 

"  I'late  LXIX. 

^  It  still  contiiins  a  few  reminiscences  of  her,  including;  the  room 
in  which  she  died,  a  pleasirii;  portrait  of  her  hy  Hron/.iiKi.  ami  a 
pretty  portrait  of  a  f^irl  of  about  fourteen  who  was  Hiaiu-a's  adopted 
daughter. 


332  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

charms  at  that  beautiful  season  of  the  year,  and 
to  revel  in  a  country  life  away  from  the  formalities 
of  the  court.  But  they  had  also  another  reason. 
The  sincere  endeavours  which  all  writers  acknow- 
ledge that  Bianca  constantly  made  to  conciliate 
Ferdinand  and  heal  the  breach  between  the  brothers 
had  once  more  been  successful.  A  reconciliation 
had  been  effected,  and  to  cement  it  Francis  and 
Bianca  had  invited  Ferdinand  to  come  from  Rome, 
and  join  them  in  a  visit  to  Poggio  a  Caiano. 

Accordingly  Ferdinand  arrived  at  Florence, 
was  received  at  the  Ducal  Palace  by  Francis  and 
Bianca  with  every  sign  of  cordiality,  and  together 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Florence  accompanied 
them  to  Poggio  a  Caiano.  There  they  remained 
for  some  days  in  complete  harmony,  the  Grand 
Duchess  and  the  Archbishop  exerting  themselves 
to  maintain  these  cordial  relations  between  the 
brothers  who  had  so  long  been  at  enmity.  But 
this  happy  state  of  affairs  had  a  melancholy  ending. 
On  the  8th  October  the  whole  party  went  out 
hunting ;  during  the  day  the  Grand  Duke  while 
violently  heated  sat  down  by  a  small  lake  in  the 
park  and  caught  a  severe  chill,  ending  in  fever, 
which  he  insisted  on  treating  himself,  taking  for  it 
some  of  the  most  unheard-of  medicines  with  which 
his  chemical  researches  had  made  him  acquainted, ^ 
notwithstanding  that  his  indisposition  steadily 
grew   worse    and   was   accompanied   with   violent 

^  The  chief  ;.f  tliese  was  a  medicine  called  Bezzuar  (a  secretion 
formed  in  the  biliary  ducts  of  certain  animals,  particularly  the  crocodile, 
the  porcupine,  tlie"  Peruvian  g-oat,  and  the  Indian  gazelle)  which  was 
supposed  by  the  Arabian  doctors  to  be  a  general  cure  for  e\'ery  malady, 
and  which  in  consequence  of  its  high  estimation  by  them  was  sold  at 
an  immense  price. 


XXV.]  A   JOINT   DEATH  333 

sickness.  On  the  ninth  day  of  this  ihness  his 
malady  took  a  more  serious  turn ;  this  was 
increased  by  Bianca's  inabihty  to  nurse  him  (as 
she  was  accustomed  to  do),  she  having  been  herself 
taken  ill  on  the  13th  October  of  a  bad  type  of 
fever.  Francis  became  rapidly  worse,  and,  after 
forty-eight  hours  of  great  agony,  expired  on  the 
19th  October.  Meanwhile  Bianca,  seriously  ill  at 
the  same  time,  and  unable  to  go  to  her  husband, 
was  consumed  with  anxiety  about  him,  and  her 
enquiries  for  him  were  incessant.  She  had  always 
been  accustomed  to  say  that  "  between  her  death 
and  his,  hours,  not  days,  would  elapse  " ;  and  so  it 
proved.  After  six  days'  illness,  feeling  herself  to 
be  dying,  and  not  knowing  that  her  husband  was 
already  dead,  she  sent  him  her  parting  words  by 
her  confessor,  Fra  INIaranta,  weeping  as  she  said : 
"  Give  my  farewell  to  my  Lord  Francesco  de' 
Medici,  and  say  to  him  that  I  have  always  been 
most  faithful  and  most  loving  towards  him  ;  tell 
him  that  my  illness  is  made  so  great  because  of 
his ;  and  beg  him  to  pardon  it  if  I  have  ever 
offended  him  in  anything."  In  order  to  prevent 
her  hearing  sounds  from  the  apartment  of  the 
Grand  Duke  (which  was  near  hers)  such  as  would 
reveal  to  her  that  he  was  dead,  his  body  was 
carried  down  to  a  room  on  the  ground-floor  of  tlie 
villa.^  But  the  unusual  trampling  of  feet  in  the 
passages,  the  agitated  and  tearful  aspect  of  iicr 
attendants,  and  the  noise  of  carriages  and  horses 

'  That  which  is  now  shown  to  visitors  as  the  room  of  Bianca  C'apello, 
with  a  stone  tablet  on  the  wall  to  tliat  effect.  Thoiifrh  tliis  is  an  error, 
it  was  in  this  room  that  their  two  IkhHcs  were  laid  sirle  by  side  and 
together  prepared  for  burial  ;  which  is  perhaps  the  reason  that  it 
became  called  by  Bianca's  name. 


334  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

in  the  open  space  below  as  Ferdinand  and  the 
Archbishop  took  their  hasty  departure  to  Florence, 
soon  awakened  her  to  the  knowledge  that  Francis 
was  dead.  For  a  while  she  lay  silent ;  then  after 
murmuring  a  few  broken  sentences  she  breathed  a 
very  deep  sigh  and  said  calmly :  "  And  likewise 
also  it  accords  with  my  own  wish  that  I  should  die 
with  my  lord."  After  which  she  became  too  ill  to 
speak,  and  soon  afterwards  expired,  dying  eleven 
hours  after  her  husband.^ 

Of  course  it  was  inevitable  under  the  circum- 
stances that  Ferdinand  should  be  suspected  of 
having  poisoned  them  both.  The  fact  that  by  the 
death  of  his  brother  he  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
joined  with  his  well-known  hatred  of  Bianca,  made 
his  guilt  apparently  certain.  He  at  once  ordered 
2i  post-mortem  examination  of  the  two  bodies,  and 
the  doctors  reported  that  there  was  no  trace  of 
poison  in  either  case,  but  naturally  such  a  report 
carried  little  weight ;  so  that  the  common  theory 
has  always  been  that  Francis  and  Bianca  were 
poisoned  by  Ferdinand.  Side  by  side  with  this 
theory,  however,  there  has  been  another.  Bianca 
had  been  too  long  a  subject  of  vituperation  for  an 
endeavour  not  to  be  made  in  some  way  to  throw 
the  guilt  upon  her,  however  difficult  in  this  case 
to  do  so.  Hence  we  have  the  well-known  story  of 
the  tart  supposed  to  have  been  prepared  by  Bianca 
in  order  to  poison  Ferdinand,  but  eaten  by  accident 
by  Francis,  and  that  Bianca,  seeing  this,  eat  of  it 
also,  being  determined  not  to  survive  him ;  a  story 

1  The  above  account  of  the  deaths  of  Francis  and  Bianca  is  taken 
from  the  records  contained  in  Doc.  I.,  III.,  IX.,  and  XVI.,  Archivio 
^torico  Italiano,  State  Archives,  Florence. 


XXV.]  NO   CASE   OF   POISON  335 

which,  notwithstanding  its  ahnost  palpable  untnitli, 
has  obtained  wide  credence.^ 

The  account,  however,  given  above  of  this  affair 
(which  is  that  disclosed  by  the  State  archives  un- 
earthed within  recent  years  by  the  patient  research 
of  the  late  Signor  G.  E.  Saltini)  shows  plainly 
that  Bianca  was  not  even  present  when  Francis 
became  seriously  ill,  she  having  then  been  for  four 
days  ill  in  bed.  And  it  is  now  considered  certain, 
not  only  that  Bianca  was  perfectly  innocent  (which 
is  almost  self-evident),  but  that  Ferdinand  was 
innocent  also.  All  historians  are  now  convinced 
that  it  was  no  case  of  poison  at  all,  and  that 
Francis  and  Bianca  died  from  the  natural  causes 
assigned  by  the  doctors  as  the  result  of  the  post- 
7nortem  examination,  Bianca  from  dropsy,  from 
which  she  had  suffered  for  two  years,  and  which 
was  aggravated  by  her  attack  of  fever,  and  Francis 
chiefly  through  the  absurd  remedies  which  he  per- 
sisted in  taking  to  cure  his  indisposition.  More- 
over, Ferdinand's  history  during  the  succeeding 
twenty  -  two  years  as  Grand  Duke  showed  very 
distinctly  that  he  was  not  the  kind  of  man  who 
could  be  guilty  of  such  a  crime. 

Ferdinand,  however,  inspired  by  his  inordinate 
hatred  of  Bianca,  was  led  into  conduct  which  was 
extremely  short-sighted.  He  not  only  refused  to 
allow  her  decent  burial,  but  also  ordered  the 
destruction  of  everything  that  could  recall  hrr 
memory.  He  caused  her  armorial  bearings  to  be 
erased   from   the   escutcheon    of   the    Medici   and 


*  One  thing,  however,  this  story  incidentally  shows,  namely, 
the  certainty  universally  felt  of  liianca's  undying  aifoctiou  for 
Francis, 


830  FRANCIS   I.  [chap. 

replaced  by  those  of  Austria,  when  obhged  to 
mention  her  name  would  not  give  her  or  allow 
others  to  give  her  the  title  of  Grand  Duchess,  and 
even  in  a  public  document  designated  her  as  "  La 
pessima  Bianca."  By  this  conduct  Ferdinand  used 
the  best  means  possible  for  making  it  supposed 
that  he  desired  to  divert  suspicion  from  himself, 
and  for  confirming  in  men's  minds  the  idea  that 
he  was  guilty. 

The  two  bodies  were  together  brought  back  to 
Florence.  That  of  Francis  was  embalmed,^  and 
buried  in  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo-  with  the 
ceremonial  customary  in  the  case  of  a  Grand 
Duke ;  but  when  the  architect  Buontalenti  asked 
Ferdinand  where  the  body  of  the  Grand  Duchess 
should  be  buried,  he  replied  :  "  Where  you  please  ; 
we  will  not  have  her  amongst  us.""  Her  body  was 
therefore  wrapped  simply  in  an  ordinary  winding 
sheet  and  buried  without  ceremony,  none  know 
where.  And  so,  among  the  Grand  Duchesses  of 
Tuscany,  one,  the  second,  is  missing  from  that 
great  mausoleum  where  all  the  rest  lie  buried ;  and 
in  its  crypt  Francis  I.  has  by  his  side  the  first  wife 

1  When  ill  1857  the  Medici  coffins  were  opened  the  body  of  Francis 
was  foundj  like  that  of  Joanna,  completely  preserved  by  the  very  effective 
embalming  process  that  had  been  employed.  "  'J'he  face  accorded  in 
every  way  with  the  numerous  portraits  of  him  ;  the  hands  were  curled 
up  and  contracted,  seeming  to  accord  with  the  stories  related  of 
his  death  which  assert  that  he  died  in  the  spasms  of  poisoning.*  ITie 
body  was  clothed  in  a  plain  black  garment  of  camel-hair,  without  any 
distinguishing  sign  of  his  high  rank.  His  name  and  titles  as  Grand 
Duke,  and  date  of  his  death,  were  on  a  small  leaden  plate  behind  the 
head.  "  (Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici 
Mausoleum.     1857.  j 

^  The  family  mausoleum  not  being  as  yet  in  existence,  Francis, 
Joanna,  and  their  children  were  buried  at  first  in  the  New  Sacristy. 
Their  remains  were  subsequently  removed  to  the  mausoleum  when  it 
was  afterwards  built  (chap.  xxix.  pp.  4()9-470). 

*  This  in  1857  was  still  the  accepted  theory. 


XXV.]  BIANCA'S   TRUE   CHARACTER  337 

whom  he  so  dishked,  and  who  was  Grand  Duchess 
for  four  years,  but  not  the  second  wife,  wlio  was 
Grand  Duchess  for  nine,  and  was  the  only  person 
whom  throughout  hfe  he  had  loved,  or  who  loved 
him.  But  to  Bianca  it  mattered  nothing  to  what 
obscurity  her  body  was  consigned  ;  for  her  memory 
has  lived  on  notwithstanding  all  Ferdinand's  efforts 
to  obliterate  it,  while  the  accusations  so  freely 
spread  abroad  against  her  have  gradually  shown 
themselves  to  be  untrue. 

Bianca  Capello  was  forty-four  when  she  died. 
Undoubtedly,  notwithstanding  all  that  can  justly 
be  said  on  the  other  side,  she  was  a  woman  wlio 
deserved  a  better  record  than  the  distorted  picture 
of  her  which  was  handed  down  to  posterity  owing 
to  the  insensate  hatred  entertained  for  her  by  the 
brother  of  her  husband  who  succeeded  him  as 
Grand  Duke.  Regarding  her  one  grave  fault  it 
has  been  remarked  that,  "  thrown  while  yet  a  mere 
girl  into  temptation,  distress,  and  danger,  with  a 
warm  heart  and  strong  sensibility,  her  natural  pro- 
tector false,  despicable,  and  utterly  selfish,  assailed 
by  unwonted  hardsliip  and  suffering,  reduced  from 
the  splendour  and  refinement  of  exalted  station  to 
perform  the  menial  offices  of  a  starving  household, 
with  a  youthful  prince  at  her  feet,  and  the  ghnnner 
of  a  throne  in  the  distance,  she  finally  sank  under 
temptation,  and  became — probably  not  all  tliat  her 
enemies  have  described  her.  In  an  age  of  infidelity 
she  was  at  least  faitliful  to  the  Grand  Duke,  and 
probably  would  have  l)een  faithrul  to  her  liushand 
had  he  taken  any  pains  to  keep  her  so."'  liianca 
Capello,   in  fact,  shows   herself  as    one    in   wlium 

'  Napier. 

VOL.  II.  y 


338 


FRANCIS   I. 


[chap.     XXV. 


throughout  hfe  love  reigned  supreme.  And  the 
true  essence  of  her  character  is  seen  in  the  girl  who 
abandoned  all  the  grandeur  and  luxury  belonging 
to  a  Venetian  noble's  daughter  for  the  man  she 
loved,  and  in  the  wife  who  felt  that  it  "  accorded 
with  her  own  wish  to  die  with  her  lord,"  and  when 
she  knew  that  he  was  dead  had  no  desire  to  live 
any  longer. 


The  villa  of  Cafaggiolo.     {From  an  eighteenth-century  print.) 


CHAPTER   XXVI 
FERDINAND   I. 

Born  1549.  {Reigned  lo87-1009.)  Died  1009. 

Ferdinand/  the  fourth  son  of  Cosimo  I.  and 
Eleonora  di  Toledo,  who  had  been  made  a  cardinal 
when  he  was  fourteen,  at  the  time  of  the  death 
of  his  mother  and  his  brothers,  Giovanni  and 
Garzia,  was  twenty-five  years  old  when  his  father 
died  and  his  brother  Francis  succeeded  to  the 
throne.  He  and  Francis  differed  violently  on  every 
subject ;  it  merely  required  that  a  proposal  should 
emanate  from  one  of  them  for  it  to  be  opposed  by 
the  other ;  and  after  a  time  they  kept  altogetlier 
apart.  During  the  thirteen  years  of  his  brother's 
reign  Ferdinand  resided  entirely  at  Rome,  where 
he  became  a  strong  power  at  the  Vatican.  Thougli 
a  cardinal,  he  never  took  holy  orders.  Fierce, 
haughty,  bold,  and  independent,  and  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  faction  in  the  Curia,  he  feared  no 
l*ope  whatever.  On  one  occasion  he  witlistood 
even  the  ferocious  and  tyrannical  Sixtus  \^.  on 
the  subject  of  wearing  arms  and  armour  in  the 
Vatican,  which  he,  Ferdinand  de'  Medici,  declined 
to  a})andon. 

'  I'late  LXX.  'Iliere  are  many  portraits  of  FonliiiaiKl.  Imt  tlie 
best  is  this  one  painted  at  Rome  while  lie  was  still  a  canliiial,  l>y 
Alessaiidro  Allori. 

339 


340  FEIIDINAND   I.  ['"ap. 

At  another  time  he  by  his  boldness  and  resource 
saved  the  hfe  of  his  friend,  Cardinal  Farnese.  The 
latter  had  been  condemned  by  Sixtus  V.  to  be 
executed,  and  the  hour  for  his  execution  fixed.  But 
Ferdinand  put  on  all  the  clocks  in  the  Vatican 
by  one  hour,  and  then  boldly  facing  the  Pope 
petitioned  for  Farnese's  pardon,  and  practically 
forced  the  Pope  to  grant  it,  the  latter,  however, 
only  doing  so  because  he  thought  that  the  hour 
for  Farnese's  execution  was  already  past.  Then 
Ferdinand  stopped  the  execution  on  the  authority 
he  had  extracted  from  the  Pope,  and  his  friend's 
life  was  saved. 

Art         At   Rome   Ferdinand   signalised   him- 
coiiections.    ^^^  jj^  |-^,q  ways.     He  showed  much 

capacity  in  the  administration  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  being  notable  in  particular  as  the  founder 
of  the  great  missionary  establishment,  the  Propa- 
ganda ;  and  he  was  still  more  distinguished  as 
a  great  collector  of  the  works  of  classic  art. 
It  was  a  time  in  Rome  when  the  greater 
part  of  the  collections  of  sculpture  of  the  classic 
age  which  had  been  unearthed  and  gathered 
together  in  the  Vatican  by  Popes  Julius  II., 
Leo  X.,  Clement  VII.,  and  Paul  III.,  had  been 
scattered  by  subsequent  Popes  who  cared  nothing 
about  art ;  ^  and  in  Ferdinand's  time  the  Popes 
had  not  yet  begun  again  to  take  any  interest 
in  such  things.-     Ferdinand,  on  the  other  hand, 

1  Especially  was  this  the  case  in  regard  to  Pius  V.  (1565-1572),  who 
deliberately  got  rid  of  the  art  collections  of  the  Vatican. 

2  The  great  collection  of  sculpture  which  now  forms  the  chief 
possession  of  the  ^'atican  was  practically  begun,  nearly  a  hundred 
years  later,  by  Pope  Clement  XIV.  (1709-1775.) 


PLATE   LXX. 


IKUDINAM)     r.,     KOI   HTII    S(l\     ul      l(l"■I^I^     I..     IS     111-     liltl— •     A^     A     'AIIMINAI.    ll^:ll>Ul:    III: 

iti:(  AMI-;  (.HASH   in  m:. 
\W  AU's-.iii.lr..  Allori. 

/j,„r//  "  [I'Uti  (•oNtiI. 


XXVI.]         HIS  COLLECTION  OF  SCT^LPTFRE  341 

inheriting  the  snme  tastes  as  liis  ancestors,  pur- 
chased eagerly  all  such  works  which  he  could 
obtain,  and  became  the  chief  collector  of  the  time 
in  Rome.  He  built  the  celebrated  V^illa  Medici  at 
Rome,  and  there  he  collected  an  immense  number 
of  the  most  priceless  works  of  Greek  and  Roman 
sculpture.  These  included  the  Venus  de  Medici 
(found  in  the  villa  of  Hadrian  at  Tivoli),  the 
group  of  Niobe  ^  and  her  children  (found  near  the 
Porta  San  Paolo  in  1,583),  the  Dancing  Faun^  the 
Wrestlers,  the  Knife-whetter,  the  A  poll i  no,  and 
many  statues  of  classic  times,  busts  of  Roman 
emperors,  and  other  works  of  antiquity,  which  were 
all  subsequently  removed  by  degrees  to  Florence 
by  him  or  his  successors,  and  now  adorn  the  stair- 
cases and  corridors  of  the  Ufhzi  Gallery.  Thus 
Ferdinand,  before  he  was  Grand  Duke,  purchased 
out  of  his  own  private  funds  the  six  best  examples 
of  Greek  art  which  Florence  possesses  ;  and,  except 
the  Apollo  Belvedere,  the  Laocoon,  and  the  Torso 
of  Hercides,  the  best  which  were  at  that  time 
known.  As  regards  the  Venus  (which  being 
purchased  by  Ferdinand  immediately  it  was  found 
henceforth  received  his  family  name)  it  is  too 
much  the  fashion  to  decry  its  excellence,  solely 
because  a  former  generation  erred  in  the  opposite 
direction.  It  has  been  said  that  this  statue  cannot 
be  understood  at  a  single  \isit ;  while  Byron's  well- 
known  words  aljout  it  remain  as  true  as  ever.  Of 
the  ApoUino  Shelley  said  that  it  was  "  like  a  spirit 
even  in  dreams." 

'  "O  Niobe,  con  che  occhi  doIcTiti 

Vctlev'  io  te,  sofrn.iti  in  su  la  strada, 
Tra  sette  e  sette  tuoi  tifjliuoli  .s|K'nti." 

— Daiite,  Purgatorio,  xii.   37- 


342  FET^DTNAND   T.  [f^nAP. 

Ferdinand  was  thirty-eight  years  old  when  his 
brotlier  Francis  died.  As  the  latter  left  no  son 
Ferdinand  resigned  his  cardinal's  rank  (together 
with  a  good  prospect  of  being  the  next  Pope),  and 
succeeded  his  brother  as  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 
His  conduct  with  reference  to  Bianca  Capello  is 
not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  true  indication  of  his 
character,  but  rather  as  a  monomania  on  that 
particular  point.  His  whole  conduct  during  the 
long  period  of  twenty-two  years  that  he  was  Grand 
Duke  (and  as  such  a  mark  for  the  searching  hostile 
criticism  of  those  who  watched  for  any  cause  of 
offence  in  the  head  of  this  family)  showed  him  to 
be  a  man  of  high  character  whose  life  gave  no 
cause  of  offence  to  any.  Two  Medici  Grand  Dukes 
preceded  him,  and  four  followed  him,  but  he  was 
superior  to  them  all ;  for  though  his  achievements, 
great  as  they  were,  did  not  equal  those  of  his  father 
Cosimo,  this  high  character  and  exemplary  conduct 
more  than  restored  the  balance. 

On  ascending  the  throne  Ferdinand  reversed 
the  previously  existing  foreign  policy  of  siding 
with  Spain,  and  began  to  establish  relations  with 
France,  thus  returning  to  Tuscany's  older  policy. 
Unlike  Francis,  he  had  always  been  on  friendly 
terms  with  Catherine  de'  Medici ;  and  before  the 
year  1587  was  ended  he  had  arranged  with  her 
that  her  favourite  granddaughter,  Christine  of 
Lorraine,  then  twenty-two,  should  be  given  to 
him  in  marriage.  This  was,  however,  for  some 
little  time  delayed,  first  by  the  sudden  death 
of  Christine's  father,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and 
then  by  the  disturbances  in  France.     Nor  did  the 


xxvi]  HIS  MARRIAGE  343 

marriage  appear  a  very  propitious  one ;  rumours 
were  rife  at  the  French  court  whicli  dechu-ed  that 
the  proposed  bridegroom  was  the  murderer  of  his 
brother  and  sister-in-law ;  while  in  the  existing 
condition  of  France  it  was  thought  unsafe  for 
Christine  at  present  to  take  the  journey.  For 
it  was  a  troubled  time.  Spain's  great  Armada 
was  about  to  sail  to  attack  England,  and  Spain 
was  laying  plans  to  obtain  possession  of  French 
ports  ;  while  in  France  civil  war  was  raging,  the 
League  being  in  possession  of  Paris,  and  the  King 
(Henry  III.),  with  the  States-General,  having  to 
take  refuge  at  Blois.  Ferdinand  sent  an  embassy, 
headed  by  Orazio  Rucellai,  to  escort  Cln-istine  to 
Florence,  but  they  had  to  remain  at  Blois  until 
March  1589  before  it  was  safe  for  her  to  travel ; 
and  during  this  time  much  occurred.  In  July  1588 
the  Armada  made  its  attack  on  England,  and  in 
a  fortnight  was  entirely  destroyed.  Meanwhile 
Catherine  de'  JNledici  was  evidently  dying,  and 
Christine  could  not  leave  her.  In  December  the 
murder  at  Blois  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  threw  all 
the  court  into  confusion  and  terror.  On  the 
5th  January  1589  Catherine  de'  JNIedici  died, 
Christine  being  with  her  to  the  last ;  and  in  March 
the  latter  started  from  Blois  on  a  sonicwliat 
melancholy  journey,  all  the  court  being  sorry  to 
lose  one  who  was  universally  liked,  and  she  herself 
being  very  sad  at  bidding  good-bye  to  France. 
She  was  accompanied  for  a  long  distance  from 
Blois  by  a  brilliant  cavalcade,  including  Henry  HI. 
himself,  who  showed  her  great  affection  at  parting. 
At  Marseilles  she  and    her  escort  found  llie  Hct  I 


344  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

which  had  been  waiting  there  for  her  for  months ; 
and  in  due  course  she  arrived  at  Florence. 

The  marriage  festivities  at  Florence  lasted  a 
month,  and  were  on  the  most  splendid  scale. 

"  Florence  resembled  the  city  of  a  fairy  tale 
rather  than  the  sober  habitation  of  common 
men.  In  the  courtyard  of  the  Palace  the  storm- 
ing of  a  Turkish  fortress  was  represented  with 
inimitable  talent.  A  magnificent  tournament 
followed,  and  this  was  succeeded  by  a  sumptuous 
banquet ;  but  after  the  guests  had  refreshed  them- 
selves they  found  that  the  courtyard  of  the  Palace 
had  been  converted  into  a  mimic  sea,  and  a  spirited 
naval  combat  ensued,  and  made  the  walls  re-echo 
to  its  thunders."  ^ 

Christine  Christine  of  Lorraine  made  Ferdinand 
of  Lorraine,  ^u  excellent  wifc.  On  the  death  of  her 
mother  she  had  been  adopted  by  her  grandmother, 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  and  entirely  brought  up  by 
her,^  and  is  described  on  her  arrival  at  Florence  as 
"  full  of  grace,  vivacity,  and  spirit."  She  survived 
her  husband,  Ferdinand  I.,  for  twenty-seven  years, 
her  son,  Cosimo  II.,  for  sixteen  years,  and  was 
appointed  by  the  latter  Regent  of  Tuscany  during 
the  long  minority  of  his  son,  Ferdinand  II.  She 
was  thus  the  leading  social  influence  at  Florence 
during  the  greater  part  of  three  reigns  and  for  so 
long  a  period  as  fifty  years.  Though  not  possessed 
of  much  ability,  she  was  a  thoroughly  good  woman, 
and  she  completely  reformed  the  court  of  Tuscany ; 
henceforth  no  ground  was  given  for  the  fabrica- 

^  Galluzzi.     Lib.  v.  cap.  i. 

2  For  tlie  dom  y  given  her  by  Catherine  de'  Medici  on  her  marriagej 
see  chap,  xxviii.  p.  395, 


XXVI.]  CHRISTINE    OF   LORRAINE  345 

tion  of  dark  tales  of  crime  such  as  that  wliicli 
the  atmosphere  of  the  court  had  afforded  in  the 
reigns  of  Cosimo  I.  and  Francis  I.;  and  this  one 
important  work  done  by  Christine  of  Lorraine, 
and  made  permanent  through  the  excellent  bring- 
ing up  which  she  gave  her  son  Cosimo  II.,  is 
sufficient  to  render  lier  worthy  of  the  utmost 
praise.  One  other  thing  Christine  effected.  For 
by  showing  herself  all  that  she  was  in  this  respect, 
she  did  an  important  service  to  one  who  had  loved 
her,  whom  she  had  loved,  and  to  whom  she  owed 
all  her  training.  For  nothing  could  better  vindi- 
cate the  character  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  than 
the  results  which  her  training  produced  in  the 
granddaughter  whom  she  had  brouglit  up.  In 
the  portrait  of  Christine  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,^ 
taken  a  year  or  two  after  her  marriage,  she  wears 
her  court  dress  and  has  her  crown  by  her  side  ; 
the  crown  is  large  and  heavily  jewelled,  and  has, 
below  the  Florentine  lily,  two  figures  supporting 
a  shield ;  her  dress  is  of  a  peculiar  shape,  the 
lower  part  of  the  sleeve  being  removable  and 
fastened  witli  large  buttons  to  the  upper  part  or 
cape ;  and  this  pattern  of  dress  is  to  be  seen  in 
several  other  portraits  of  ladies  of  this  time  in  the 
Uffizi  Gallery.  In  another  portrait  of  her,  taken 
about  the  same  time,  she  wears  the  same  shaped 
dress,  and  the  crown  by  lier  side  is  a  small  light 
one  having  on  it  only  the  Florentine  lily.  In  the 
case  of  the  Medici,  not  only  each  (irand  Duke,- 
but  each  Grand  Duchess  also,  was  buried  wearing 
her  own  crown,  an  entirely  tVesh  one  being  made  for 
her  successor.     In  her  portrait  each  Grand  Duchess 

>  Plate  LXXI.  "  See  chiip.  xxiv.  p.  .^00. 


346  FERDINAND  I.  [chap. 

is   pjiinted   with    her   crown    by    her   side,   always 
heavily  jewelled,  and  each  has  a  different  one. 

Ferdinand  I.  reigned  over  Tuscany  for  twenty- 
two  years.  The  crest  and  motto  which  he  chose 
on  cominsf  to  the  throne — a  swarm  of  bees  with  the 
motto  Majestate  tantum^  by  which  he  intended  to 
signify  that  his  rule  should  be  just  and  temperate, 
enabling  the  people  to  gather  wealth  as  bees  do 
honey — was  faithfully  acted  up  to  by  him ;  and 
while  his  marriage  restored  order  and  morality  to 
the  court,  his  various  reforms  revived  Tuscany 
from  the  state  of  mal-administration  into  which 
it  had  fallen  under  Francis.  He  had  a  profound 
veneration  for  all  the  acts  and  opinions  of  his 
father;  but  the  bold  spirit  which  he  had  shown 
as  a  cardinal  did  not  continue  to  appear  in  his 
career  as  Grand  Duke,  and  he  often  quailed  before 
the  Jesuits,  which  order,  recognised  by  Pope  Paul 
III.  in  1543,  had  in  only  forty  years  gained  entire 
domination  over  the  Papacy.  On  beginning  to 
reign  Ferdinand  pardoned  all  who  had  opposed 
him,  and  removed  all  restrictions  as  to  where 
Florentines  might  reside.  He  put  an  end  to  the 
corruption  which  had  invaded  the  courts  of  justice, 
assisted  commerce  by  many  wise  fiscal  reforms, 
and  gave  his  entire  attention  to  State  affairs  and 
measures  for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Among 
many  other  useful  works  with  this  object  he  suc- 
cessftiUy  accomplished  for  the  time  ^  the  draining  of 
the  \^al  di  Chiana,  which  had  been  an  engineering 

^  "  By  dig-nity  alone  "  (not  force,  understood). 

-  It  was  not,  however,  until  two  hundred  years  later,  under  the 
Austrian  Grand  Duke  Pietro  Leopoldo,  that  the  great  difficulties  of  this 
engineering  problem  were  finally  overcome. 


ri.AlK    I.XXI. 


xxvi]  THE    LIVORNINA  3+7 

difficulty  for  generations  ;  he  brought  under  culti\  a- 
tion  the  plains  of  Pisa,  Fucecchio,  and  tlie  \^al  di 
Nievole  ;  and  he  gave  Pisa  water  connnunication 
with  Leghorn,  by  means  of  the  canal  of  the 
Naviglio,  into  w^hich  a  portion  of  the  water  of  the 
Arno  was  turned. 

But  Ferdinand's  greatest  achieve-  Founding 
ment  was  the  creation  of  Leghorn  ;  for  °^  Leghorn. 
it  was  he  who  practically  created  that  port  through 
the  particular  measure  which  made  it  so  remark- 
able a  success.  His  father  Cosimo  had  begun 
the  conversion  of  this  small  fishing  village  into 
an  important  harbour,  but  had  not  had  time  to 
proceed  far  with  the  project ;  the  one  good  work  of 
Francis  had  been  the  continuation  of  his  fatlier's 
plans  in  this  respect,  but  though  he  advanced  them 
to  some  extent,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
work  still  remained  to  be  done  when  Ferdinand 
came  to  the  throne.  The  latter  took  this  matter 
up  vigorously,  and  it  became  his  chief  interest ; 
harbours  were  laid  out  and  excavated,  fortifications 
planned  and  thrown  up,  and  sound  fiscal  regula- 
tions made  to  attract  commerce  to  the  new  port. 
But  these  arrangements  alone  would  not  have 
amounted  to  more  than  had  often  been  carried 
out  in  other  cases  without  any  startling  results. 
To  them,  however,  Ferdinand  added  a  measure 
which  in  its  broad-mindedness  was  entirely  in 
advance  of  the  ideas  of  his  age.  He  pul)lishcd  a 
decree  (which  from  I^eghorn's  Italian  name  of 
I^ivorno  he  called  the  Livornina)  by  which  it 
was  ruled  that  in  the  new  port  there  should  l)e 
universal  toleration,  thus  making  it  an  asylum  of 


348  FERDINAND   T.  [chap. 

i-efiigc  for  tlic  persecuted  of  all  relif^ions  and  nation- 
alities ;  Protestants  flying  from  France  and  Spain, 
Roman  Catholics  flying  from  England,  Flemings 
flying  from  Alva's  atrocities  in  the  Netlierlands, 
persecuted  Jews  from  all  countries,  were  all  alike 
welcomed  and  protected  at  Leghorn,  and  found  a 
safe  refuge  there  ;  while  to  the  Jews  Ferdinand  gave 
also  a  special  charter  to  protect  them  from  persecu- 
tion by  Tuscans.  The  result  of  this  broad-minded 
policy  was  that  Leghorn  went  up  with  a  bound, 
and  before  Ferdinand's  reign  of  twenty-two  years 
was  ended  had  risen  from  an  insignificant  fish- 
ing village  into  the  leading  commercial  port  of 
Italy  after  Genoa.  Montesquieu,  speaking  of  this 
achievement,  calls  Leghorn  "the  masterpiece  of 
the  dynasty  of  the  Medici."  The  latter  could, 
however,  point  to  greater  achievements  than  this 
one  (both  before  and  after  it),  important  as  it  was. 
Ferdinand  also  largely  increased  the  Tuscan 
navy,  and  the  latter,  led  by  the  knights  of  Santo 
Stefano,  gained  much  honour  in  the  Mediterranean, 
both  by  victories  over  the  Turks,  and  by  sweep- 
ing from  the  seas  the  fierce  pirates  of  Barbary 
who  were  a  formidable  obstacle  to  all  maritime 
commerce.  Towards  the  end  of  Ferdinand's  reign 
the  war-galleys  of  the  knights  of  Santo  Stefano 
were  in  1607  sent  to  attack  Bona,  on  the  coast 
of  Barbary,  the  headquarters  of  the  corsairs ;  the 
place  was  fiercely  defended  by  the  latter,  but  the 
knights  took  it  by  an  assault  in  which  they 
displayed  unexampled  bravery.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  the  same  galleys  achieved  a  still  more 
brilliant  victory  over  the  Turks,  attacking  and 
completely  defeating  the  much  stronger  Turkish 


XXVI.]  SUPPORT  TO    HENRY   IV.  349 

fleet,  capturing  nine  of  their  vessels,  seven  luindrcd 
prisoners,  and  a  store  of  jewels  valued  at  2,0{)0,00() 
ducats.  This  victory  was  the  final  success  which 
closed  a  long  series  of  similar  contests,  and  placed 
the  Tuscan  fleet  at  the  head  of  naval  affairs 
in  the  Mediterranean.  In  the  Sala  del  15aroccio 
in  the  Uffizi  Gallery  is  to  be  seen  a  talkie  of 
Florentine  jy/^^7'rt  dura,  executed  for  Ferdinand,  in 
the  centre  of  which  is  a  representation  of  the  har- 
bour of  Leghorn,  with  vessels  of  all  nations  float- 
ing on  a  sea  of  lapis  -  lazuli,  and  among  them 
a  squadron  of  six  galleys  of  the  Tuscan  fleet 
bringing  into  the  harbour  two  captured  Turkisli 
ships. 

In  his  foreign  policy  Ferdinand  continued  to 
increase  those  close  relations  with  France  wliich  he 
had  begun  by  his  marriage.  Six  montlis  after 
Christine  of  Lorraine  left  Blois  Henry  III.  was 
assassinated,  and  there  followed  four  years  of 
war  in  France,  during  which  Henry  of  Navarre 
(Henry  IV.)  was  contending  for  his  kingdom 
against  the  League,  which  was  assisted  l)y  Spain. 
Ferdinand  supported  his  claims  and  pro\  idcd  him 
with  money,  undeterred  by  the  opposition  of 
Spain  and  the  League,  wlio  were  appalled  at  the 
prospect  of  a  Protestant  succeeding  to  tlic  tlu-one 
of  France,  and  were  determined  to  prevent  it  at 
all  costs.  And  it  was  practically  Ferdinand  ulio 
at  length  placed  Henry  IV.  on  the  French  tliionc. 
The  revenue  of  tlie  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  Nvas 
at  this  period  equal  to,  if  not  greater  than,  tlie 
entire  revenue  of  France;  and  the  sums  which 
Ferdinand  lent  Henry  to  enable  him  to  continue 
the    contest    were    enormous.       Great     trains    of 


350  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

waggons  containing  specie,  and  escorted  by  large 
bodies  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  were  continually 
being  sent  from  Florence  to  Henry  in  France. 
After  a  four  years'  struggle,  seeing  that  Henry 
would  never  gain  that  throne  as  a  Protestant, 
Ferdinand  urged  him  to  accept  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith  ;  he  smoothed  matters  over  for  him  with  the 
Fope,  and  eventually  Henry  in  1593  renounced 
Protestantism,  was  through  Ferdinand's  strenu- 
ous endeavours  acknowledged  as  King  by  Pope 
Clement  VIII.,^  and  in  March  1594  at  last  gained 
possession  of  Paris.  This  was  followed  in  1598 
by  the  death  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  which  had  the 
effect  of  still  further  cementing  Ferdinand's  close 
friendship  with  France ;  and  in  the  following  year 
the  latter  was  able  to  arrange  a  marriage  which 
bound  Henry  IV.  still  closer  to  him. 

Marie  de  Ferdinand's  niece  Maria,  Francis's  second 
Medici  (1).  surviving  daughter,  had  been  a  girl  of 
fourteen  when  her  father  and  stepmother  died  and 
her  uncle  succeeded  to  the  throne.  She  was  given 
a  home  by  the  latter,  and  was  now  twenty-six,  the 
same  age  as  the  Grand  Duchess  Christine ;  while 
for  one  cause  or  another  various  proposals  for  her 
marriage  had  one  after  another  fallen  through.  At 
length,  however,  upon  Henry  IV.  and  ^Marguerite 
of  Valois  being  divorced  by  mutual  consent, 
Ferdinand  succeeded  in  arranging  that  Maria 
should  be  married  to  Henry  IV.  The  marriage 
which  thus  placed  a  Medici  for  the  second  time 

1  Pope  Sixtus  V.  died  in  1590.  He  was  followed  in  rapid  succession 
by  Urban  VII.  (1590),  Gregory  XIV.  (1590-1591),  Innocent  IX.  (1591- 
1592),  and  Clement  MIL  (1592-1605). 


XXVI.]  MARIE    DE    MEDICI  351 

on  the  throne  of  France  was  performed  by  proxy 
in  Florence  in  October  1600;  and  a  few  days 
afterwards  JNIaria  set  out  on  her  journey,  the  Grand 
Duchess  accompanying  her  as  far  as  Marseilles. 
She  had  an  immense  dowry ;  great  as  that  of 
Catherine  de'  ^Icdici  had  been,  Maria's  was  even 
greater ;  and  Sully  said  that  no  former  Queen  had 
ever  brought  to  France  such  a  marriage  portion. 
As  Queen  of  France,  Maria  (or,  as  she  was  always 
called  in  France,  ^larie  de  Medici)  proved  lierself 
a  decided  contrast  to  her  predecessor.  Her  blonde 
hair  and  creamy-white  complexion — that  beauty 
which  inspired  Rubens — at  first  charmed  Henry  IV. 
until  he  found  out  how  devoid  she  was  of  brains. 
She  was  good-natured,  and  was  a  moral  woman 
in  a  most  immoral  time,  but,  unlike  most  of 
her  family,  she  was  entirely  wanting  in  humour, 
wit,  or  intelligence,  being  in  this  respect  remark- 
ably inferior  to  her  sister  Eleonora,  Duchess  of 
JNlantua.  Henry  I\''.  gave  her  every  inducement 
to  show  all  her  worst  points.  His  infidelities  were 
numerous,  and  INIarie  was  not  inclined  to  pass 
these  over  without  resentment.  Henry  looked  on 
the  matter  in  another  light;  he  wrote  to  Sully. 
"  Our  little  disagreements  ought  never  to  outlast 
twenty-four  hours,"  and  complained  of  Marie  tliat 
when  she  was  offended  she  "  took  five  days  over 
it."  She  also  objected  to  his  illegitimate  cliildrcn 
being  educated  with  the  Princes  and  Frincesses, 
and  to  being  forced  by  Henry  to  address  one  of 
the  former  as  "my  son."  Under  these  conditions 
the  court  of  France  became  a  scene  of  constant 
dissensions  ;  tlic  quarrels,  rivalries,  and  battlcs-royal 
which  disturbed    the   palace    were    incessant,    and 


352  FERDINAND   1.  [chap. 

Henry's  great  Minister,  the  Duke  of  Sully,  was 
constantly  called  away  from  affairs  of  State  to 
pacify  the  storms  in  the  royal  household.  Right 
was  entirely  on  Marie's  side,  but  she  did  not  adopt 
the  best  means  of  fighting  her  battle.  Once  in 
Sully's  presence  her  wrath  was  so  great  that  she 
was  about  to  strike  the  King,  when  the  Minister 
was  only  just  in  time  to  dash  her  hand  aside. 
"  Madame,"  he  cried,  "  are  you  mad  ?  Do  you  not 
know  he  could  have  your  head  off  in  half  an  hour  ?  " 
But  Marie's  quality  of  good-nature  was  of  value 
to  her.     Richelieu  writes  : — 

"A  storm  was  scarcely  over  before  the  King, 
delighting  in  the  fine  weather,  treated  the  Queen 
with  such  sweetness  that  since  that  great  Prince's 
death  I  have  often  heard  her  rejoice  over  the 
memory  of  her  life  with  him." 

In  Marie's  portrait  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,^  painted 
not  long  after  her  marriage,  her  dress  is  very 
magnificent.  Marie  de  Medici  spent  more  on 
dress  than  probably  any  other  lady  who  ever 
lived.  The  descriptions  of  the  contents  of  her 
wardrobe,  and  of  the  numerous  garments  of  richest 
material  from  among  which  she  daily  selected 
what  dress  she  would  wear,  fill  pages  in  the 
accounts  of  her  life.  Among  them  all  she  had 
three  special  favourites,  "a  dress  of  cloth  of  gold 
on  a  ground  of  columbine,  a  dress  of  gold  and 
silver  embroidery,  and  a  dress  of  blue  velvet  sewn 
with  go\dJleur-de-lys " ;  and  it  is  the  latter  which 
she  wears  in  this  picture.  The  stomacher  is  of 
ermine,  covered  with  groups  of  large  pearls  and 
amethysts,  each   group  of  four   pearls  having  an 

1  Plate  LXXII. 


«vi.]  "GALLERY   OF  THE   STATUES"  35S 

amethyst  in  the  centre,  while  in  front  she  wears 
a  large  cross  of  amethysts  from  which  hang  three 
very  large  pearls.  The  sleeves  are  similarly  covered 
with  groups  of  pearls  and  amethysts ;  while  the 
skirt  is  heavily  embroidered  with  Jleur  -de-lys  in 
gold.  Her  crown  is  also  encrusted  with  amethysts 
and  pearls.^ 

Ferdinand  T.  was  no  less  active  in     ^^  "Gaiiery 
the  cause  of  Art  than  in  that  of  the  of  the 

development  of  the  country,  the  perfect- 
ing of  the  navy,  and  the  founding  of  Leghorn. 
From  the  Villa  Medici  at  Rome  he  gradually 
conveyed  to  Florence  a  great  part  of  the  works 
of  Greek  and  Roman  sculpture  which  he  had 
collected  there,  and  placed  them  in  the  new 
rooms  over  the  public  offices,  the  Uffizi ;  though 
some  of  the  chief  of  the  works  collected  by  him 
at  Rome  (including  the  Venus,  and  the  IVrestlers) 
were  not  brought  to  Florence  until  seventy  years 
after  his  death,  by  Cosimo  II L,  and  the  Niobe 
group  and  the  ApolUno  not  until  a  hundred  years 
later  still.^  To  accommodate  the  various  works 
of  sculpture  which  he  was  bringing  from  Rome, 
Ferdinand  commissioned  Euontalenti  to  construct 
several  additional  rooms  to  this  gallery,  including 
in  particular  the  beautiful  one  called  the  Tribuna, 
with  its  ceiling  of  mother-of-pearl  set  in  gilded 
gesso,  walls  lined  throughout  with  hangings  of 
moire  antique,  and  pavement  inlaid  with  coloured 

*  Henry  IV. 's  portrait  is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  his 
robes  being  embroidered  in  the  same  manner  as  his  wife's  dress,  with 
fleur-de-lys  in  trobl. 

-  See  chap.  xxix.  p.  468  (footuote). 

VOL.   IJ.  Z 


354  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

marbles.  Thus  tlie  Uffizi  Gallery  was  for  a  long 
period  more  noted  for  its  sculpture  than  for  its 
pictures,  and  on  this  account  was,  down  to  quite 
recent  times,  called  "  the  Gallery  of  the  Statues." 
At  the  same  time  Ferdinand  continued  the  course 
which  Francis  had  begun  of  collecting  in  these 
rooms  any  additional  pictures  which  he  acquired. 
We  have  an  example  of  the  vicissitudes  which 
many  of  the  pictures  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery 
have  undergone  before  at  last  finding  a  resting- 
place  there,  from  the  history  of  Botticelli's 
beautiful  little  picture  of  Judith.  Painted  for 
Piero  il  Gottoso,  it  originally  formed  part  of  the 
artistic  treasures  of  the  Medici  Palace.  Robbed 
with  their  other  possessions  when  the  palace  was 
sacked  in  1494  it  disappeared  for  ninety  years, 
during  which  time  it  apparently  passed  from 
hand  to  hand,  until  it  at  last  came  into  the 
possession  of  Ridolfo  Singatti,  who  gave  it  as  a 
present  to  Francis's  wife,  Bianca  Capello,  and  so 
it  came  once  more  into  the  possession  of  the 
Medici,  and  after  Bianca's  death  was  placed  by 
Ferdinand  in  the  Uffizi  collection.  Still  more  extra- 
ordinary have  been  the  vicissitudes  of  one  of  the 
greatest  treasures  of  the  Pitti  Gallery,  Raphael's 
Madonna  del  Gran  JDuca.  For  this  picture, 
painted  by  him  in  1505,  and  now  the  most  highly 
valued  of  all  Raphael's  pictures  in  Florence,  had 
in  the  course  of  two  hundred  years  dropped  out  of 
sight,  and  passing  from  hand  to  hand  at  last  came 
into  the  possession  of  a  poor  widow  who  esteemed 
it  of  so  little  value  that  she  sold  it  to  a  picture 
dealer  for  twelve  crowns. 


PLATE   LXXir. 


MARIA  l>K    Mi:i)l< 

A/iiiuri] 


DAI    1,11  ri:i(    <l|-    I   U  \  Nr   |v    I.  .     \  \  II   ,^|    I   IN 


>l     Ml  \M  I    (  M  \HIK   UK   MKIIK  I). 
i'lli:i  liitllrrtl. 


n.ATK  I, XXII  I. 


Bn.r,l] 


COSIMO,    SON    OF    FERDIXAXD    1.,   AT    AGE    OF    TWELVE 

By  Sustermans. 

[Villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano. 


x.vvi]  THE    MEDICI    MAUSOLEUM  ,'J55 

But  the  most  important  work  in-  The  Medici 
augunited  in  Florence  by  Ferdinand  I.,  Mausoleum. 
and  begun  by  him  in  1G04,'  was  the  great  family 
mausoleum,  attached  to  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo. 
The  site  chosen  was  immediately  behind,  and 
adjoining,  the  choir  of  the  churcli,  from  the  back 
of  which  a  door  opens  directly  into  the  mausoleum  ; 
but  this  entrance  has  long  been  kept  closed. 

The  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  this  great 
work  was  an  impressive  ceremony,  and  is  tlius 
described  in  the  diary  of  Francesco  Settimanni, 
a  Florentine  citizen  of  the  time : — 

"On  the  0th  April  1604  His  Most  Serene 
Highness  the  Grand  Duke,  having  chosen  the 
place  alongside  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo  where 
he  proposed  to  erect  a  splendid  chapel,  at  the  hour 
of  half-past  two  on  Good  Friday,  the  day  of  the 
most  holy  Passion  of  our  Saviour,  came  to  tlie 
place  accompanied  by  the  whole  court.  He  gave 
to  the  Prince  Cosimo,'  his  eldest  son,  a  gold  spade 
for  the  purpose,  with  which  the  latter,  digging  the 
site  where  the  foundations  were  to  be  laid,  dug 
out  a  portion  of  the  earth,  and  with  his  own  hands 
loaded  a  small  gold  basket  with  it,  and  then  raising 
this  earth  began  the  work  of  the  foundations.  This 
being  finished,  the  Grand  Duke  concluded  the 
ceremony  by  saying  in  a  loud  voice,  'Here  sliall 
be  our  endy^ 

One  wonders  how  far  Ferdinand  I.,  standing  in 
the  corner  of  the  Piazza  Madonna  in  the  space 
allotted  to  the  new  building,  surrounded  by  his 
numerous  sons  and  daugiiters  and  his  magniticcnt 

'  Tlie  year  after  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  Kiigland. 

2  Plate  LXXIII. 

3  lHurio  del  JSettiwunni,  State  Archives,  Florence. 


356  FERDINAND    I.  [chap. 

court,  in  making  the  speech  with  wliich  he  con- 
chided  the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  the 
great  mausoleum,  looked  forward  into  the  future, 
as  he  evidently  did  look  back  into  the  past.  He 
certainly  little  imagined  that  the  long  roll  of 
family  tombs,  lying  some  in  the  Old  Sacristy, 
some  in  the  New  Sacristy,  and  some  in  the 
mausoleum  which  he  was  founding,  would  end 
four  generations  later  with  a  tomb  laid  where  he 
stood  over  one  who  was  the  last  solitary  descendant 
of  the  family. 

The  construction  of  this  huge  work,  which  was 
intended  to  be  as  splendid  as  size  and  the  decora- 
tion of  the  interior  with  a  profusion  of  precious 
stones  could  make  it,  occupied  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  and  called  forth  various  descriptions  of  art 
work  in  Florence,  originating  in  particular  one 
important  industry  which  still  flourishes.^  Begun 
by  Ferdinand  I.,  the  construction  of  this  mausoleum 
continued  during  the  whole  of  the  reigns  of  his 
four  successors,  not  being  really  finished^  until 
after  the  death  of  the  last  of  them.  The  design 
of  the  building  as  we  now  see  it  completed  is  an 
immense  octagonal  chapel  surmounted  by  a  dome, 
the  interior  of  the  walls  covered  with  rich  marbles, 
and  round  the  chapel  the  sarcophagi  of  the  seven 
Medici  Grand  Dukes,^  each  sarcophagus  being  of 
highly  polished  Oriental  granite  (of  the  same  fine 
workmanship  as  the  inlay  work  on  the  walls),  and 
in  a  niche  over  each  sarcophagus  a  colossal  statue 

1  See  pp.  358-359. 

^  Or,  more  correctly  speaking,  practically  finished  ;  for  work  on  it 
even  still  continues  (see  chap.  xxxi.  pp.  509-510). 

^  Plate  CI.  The  tomb  of  the  last  Medici  Grand  Duke,  Gian 
Gastone,  is  still  wanting.  In  four  cases  the  empty  niche  still  awaits  its 
statue. 


XXVI.]  DECORATION    OF  THE    WALLS  357 

in  bronze  of  the  individual  Grand  Duke,  standing, 
clad  in  his  robes  of  state,  with  crown  and  sceptre ; 
and  on  each  sarcophagus  a  jewelled  cushion  in 
Oriental  granite,  with  upon  this  a  gilded  and 
jewelled  crown.^  Large  slabs  of  porpliyry  below 
each  monument  bear  the  name  and  titles  of  tlie 
Grand  Duke  to  whom  it  refers.  The  walls  are  lined 
throughout  with  inlaid  marbles,  lapis-hr^iiU,  and 
other  precious  stones,  "  the  richest  crust  of  orna- 
ment that  ever  was  lavished  on  so  large  a  surface,"  ^ 
and  the  inlay  work  is  of  an  improved  description 
introduced  specially  for  the  decoration  of  this 
mausoleum.  It  was  intended  that  the  dome 
should  be  entirely  lined  with  Persian  htju.s-hizuH 
(divided  into  cassetone),  which  would  have  been 
in  unison  with  the  tone  and  material  of  tlie  walls ; 
but  after  the  last  Medici  died  this  was  given  up 
on  account  of  the  cost,^  and  the  dome  was  simply 
painted  with  frescoes.  Round  the  lower  part  of 
the  walls  are  the  coats  -  of-  arms  of  the  ^'arious 
territories  ruled  over  by  the  Medici,  and  one 
after  another  incorporated  in  Tuscany.  There 
are  sixteen  coats  -  of  -  arms  representing  these 
various  territories,  viz.:  —  Florence,  Fiesoi.e, 
Arezzo,  Cortona,  Pistoia,  Pisa,  Borgo  San 
Sepolcro,  Voeterra,  Siena,  Monte  Pulciano, 
MoNTALCiNo,  Grosseto,  Massa,  Pienza,  Cuh'si, 
SvANiA.  These  coats- of- arms  are  executed  in 
lapis  -  lazuli,  mother-of-pearl,  jasper,  agate, 
chalcedony,    and    other    precious    stones,    and    are 

^  Tlie  jewelled  cusliioii  on  the  tomb  of  (osimo  II.,  wliicli  t-ost 
70,000  francs  (£':i,800),  was  stolon  al)oiit  twenty-live  years  a^ro  (."•'• 
Plate  cm.).  An  imit^ition  of  it  lias  been  plateil  on  tlie  tomb  in 
tlie  present  year,  since  this  i»liotoj.^raph  was  taken. 

■^  Forsyth. 

*  But  .src  chap.  xxxi.  pp.  oO'.)-olO. 


358  FERDINAND   I.  ['^hap. 

of  the  very  finest  quality  of  intarsiatm'a  ^  work 
known.  The  whole  building  is  estimated  to  have 
cost  about  £1,000,000  sterling. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  decry  the  mausoleum,  and 
to  compare  it  with  the  New  Sacristy,  calling  the 
latter  an  abode  of  art  and  the  former  an  example 
of  mere  tasteless  magnificence.  But  this  is  a 
short-sighted  view  and  displays  ignorance  of  the 
conditions.  In  this  work  Ferdinand  I.  carried  out 
the  traditions  of  his  family  by  helping  forward 
the  artistic  talents  of  the  Florentines  of  his  time. 
Those  talents,  on  the  decay  in  Painting  and 
Sculpture,  now  ran  in  the  direction  of  the  minor 
arts,  and  particularly  of  inlay  work  in  stone ;  and 
it  was  only  in  that  direction  that  assistance  to  the 
artistic  talents  of  the  Florentines  could  at  this  time 
be  afforded.  And  had  the  interior  decoration  of 
the  dome  been  completed  in  accordance  with  the 
original  design,  instead  of  being  covered  with 
highly-coloured  and  inharmonious  frescoes,  the 
merits  of  the  building  would  have  been  better 
appreciated.  In  any  case  it  remains  a  remarkable 
memorial  of  the  Medici  and  of  the  grandeur  of 
their  conceptions  ;  while  it  gave  a  valuable  impetus 
to  every  branch  of  those  arts  which  deal  with  work 
in  marble  and  precious  stones. 

This     work     called     for     a     degree 
Manufactory     of    exccllencc   in   the   art   of  pietra 

of  Pietra  Dura.       ,  ,  -f^,  ..  •    \    i>        • 

dura  (or   I'lorentme   mosaic)   tar  m 
advance  of  anything  which  had  previously  been 

^  Intnrsiittura,  intarda,  or  intarsio  properly  means  any  inlay  work. 
While  generally  applied  to  works  executed  in  wood^  it  is  also  used 
technically  in  i-egard  to  inlay  work  in  stone. 


XXVI.]  THE   RENAISSANCE   IN   MUSIC  3.59 

attempted.  Ferdinand  had  already  prepared  for 
this  by  founding  the  "Royal  Manufactory  of 
Pietra  Dura " ;  ^  and  this  manufactory  was  now 
set  to  work  to  execute  all  the  inlay  work  recjuired 
for  the  new  mausoleum  when  the  walls  should 
be  ready  to  receive  it,  thus  originating  tliat 
pietra  dura  industry  which  has  since  become 
one  of  the  most  prominent  minor  arts  of 
Florence.^ 

The  great  change  which  had 
taken  place  in  the  fifteenth  century 
in  regard  to  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting 
was  now  to  be  followed  by  a  similar  renaissance 
in  a  fourth  art — music.  And  Florence  was  ajjain 
to  lead  the  way.  It  is  to  Florence,  and  to  the 
encouragement  given  to  this  new  departure  in 
music  by  Ferdinand  I.,  that  lovers  of  music  owe 
the  opera.  Music  in  this  new  movement  followed 
exactly  the  same  course  which  had  been  taken  by 
the  other  arts  two  centuries  earlier,  Renaissance 
thought  being  always  a  resurrection  of  classical 
ideas,  but  in  a  new  and  original  dress.  Towards 
the  beginning  of  Ferdinand's  reign  a  few  earnest 
lovers  of  music,  dissatisfied  with  the  older  form 
of  music,  formed  themselves  into  a  society  witii 
a  view  to  bring  about  a  reform  on  the  lines  of 
what  they  believed  to  have  been  the  method  of  the 
Greeks  in  their  dramas.     The  object  which   this 


'  'Hiis  still  exists.  On  the  stairrase  is  a  bust  of  its  Coiiiiilor, 
Ferdiiiaiul   I. 

-  Ill  the  (iem  Knoiu  of  tlie  I  flizi  (Jallciy  are  to  he  seen  various 
costly  articles  of  tliis  fiie/ni  ilnni  work,  in  jasjier.  aiiM>fhyst.  hipis-laziili, 
and  topaz^  inlaid  witii  diamonds,  riihies.  and  |.earls.  whith  were  all 
made  for  the  altar  of  the  niausoleuni   when   it  should   he  bet   up. 


360  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

society  aimed  at  was  to  see  whether,  instead  of 
musical  interludes  being  here  and  there  intro- 
duced into  dramas,  as  was  then  the  custom,  it 
was  not  possible  to  combine  drama  and  music 
together,  making  the  latter  an  integral  part  of 
the  former,  the  drama  being  sung  continuously 
from  beginning  to  end,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
Greeks  had  done ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  arrive 
at  a  style  of  music  which  should  interpret  the  drama 
performed,  music  and  drama  being  thus  wedded 
together.  This  society  numbered  among  its  leading 
members  a  Bardi,  a  Corsi,  and  a  Strozzi,  names 
which  had  long  been  celebrated  in  Florence ;  also 
Jacopo  Peri,  Emilio  Cavalieri,  Vincenzio  Galileo, 
the  poet  Ottavio  Rinuccini,  and  others,  and  held 
its  earliest  meetings  in  the  Bardi  palace  in  the 
Via  de'  Bardi.  Thinking  of  all  the  enchanting 
scenic  effects  and  musical  beauty  of  the  modern 
opera,  it  is  strange  to  realise  that  its  birthplace 
was  this  dark  and  grim  old  palace  in  one  of  the 
narrowest  streets  of  Florence. 

After  many  efforts  the  first  continuous  musical 
drama  was  produced,  the  opera  Daphne,  the  music 
being  by  Jacopo  Corsi  and  Jacopo  Peri,  and  the 
words  by  the  poet  Ottavio  Rinuccini.  It  was 
performed  for  the  first  time  in  1597,  in  the  great 
hall  of  the  Uffizi  (that  now  occupied  by  the  State 
Archives),  in  the  presence  of  Ferdinand  I.  and  his 
whole  court.  As  a  result  various  improvements 
were  introduced,  and  the  second  opera,  Euridice, 
being  the  story  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  the  music 
by  Peri  and  the  words  by  Rinuccini,  was  performed 
for  the  first  time  in  the  same  hall  and  before  the 
same  audience,  in  1600,  at  the  marriage  festivities 


XXVI.]        THE  MEDICI   TREASURE   VAULT  361 

in  Florence  of  Marie  de'  INledici.^  Other  operas 
followed,  and  the  work  of  the  reformers  was  finally 
crowned  by  INIonteverde  in  his  opera  Ai'iadne, 
produced  at  JNlantua  in  1607,  and  his  opera  Orfeo, 
produced  in  1608  (the  words  of  both  operas  again 
being  by  Rinuccini),  an  achievement  which  com- 
pleted the  revolution  in  musical  drama,  and  which 
causes  JVIonteverde  to  take  the  same  place  at 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  which 
was  250  years  later  taken  by  AVagner. 

In  January  1600  a  great  storm  threw  down 
the  huge  bronze  ball  and  cross  crowning  the 
cathedral,  made  and  placed  in  position  with  much 
difficulty  by  Verrocchio  in  1471.  In  falling  they 
did  much  damage  to  the  roof  of  the  cathedral, 
while  the  ball  rolled  some  distance  down  the  \^ia 
de'  Servi.  Ferdinand  had  a  new  ball  and  cross 
made,  considerably  larger  than  Verrocchio's,  and 
these,  which  now  crown  the  cathedral,  were 
placed  in  position  in  1602,  and  have  stood  the 
storms  of  three  centuries. 

Ferdinand  also  completed  the  fortress  of  San 
Giorgio  which  Cosimo  had  begun,  and  called  it 
the  fortress  of  the  Belvedere,  from  the  beautiful 
panorama  to  be  seen  thence.  He  made  Buonta- 
lenti,  its  architect,  construct  in  it  a  subterranean 
chamber,  for  whicli  Buontalenti  invented  a  secret 
lock  only  able  to  be  opened  by  himself  and  the 
Grand  Duke ;  and  here  the  Medici  treasure 
was  henceforth  always  kept.  The  amount  of 
Ferdinand's  treasure  was  very  great ;  it  is  re- 
corded in    a  contemporary  diary  that   he  showed 

'  In  these  operas  the  Florentines  also  invented  the  methods  of 
scoring,  barring,  and  figuring  in  the  writing  of  operatic  music  which 
have  ever  since  been  adopted. 


362  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

to  Bernardo  Buonarmoti,  to  whom  he  gave  it  in 
charge,  no  less  than  five  miUions  in  coined  gold, 
seven  thousand  Spanish  dollars,  and  an  immense 
mass  of  jewels.^ 

To  the  INIedici  villas  of  Careggi,  Cafaggiolo, 
J'oggio  a  Caiano,  and  Castello,  which  had  seen  so 
many  generations  of  the  family,  Ferdinand  now 
added  another,  the  villa  of  Petraia,-  which  he  pur- 
chased from  the  Salutati  family.  He  completely 
restored  this  villa,  and  had  its  beautiful  central 
court  decorated  by  Volteranno  and  other  artists  with 
frescoes  representing  the  coronation  of  Charles  V. 
by  Clement  VII.,  the  entry  of  Cosimo  I.  into 
Siena,  the  institution  of  the  Order  of  Santo 
Stefano,  and  other  episodes  in  the  history  of  the 
family. 

Ferdinand  also  caused  the  fine  equestrian  statue 
of  his  father,  Cosimo  I.,  to  be  executed  by  Gian 
de  Bologna,  and  set  it  up  in  the  Piazza  della 
Signoria.  It  has  on  the  pedestal  bronze  bas-reliefs 
representing  the  three  most  important  episodes 
of  Cosimo's  career :  (i)  his  being  given  the 
rule  of  the  State  by  the  Council  of  the  Forty- 
eight  ;  (ii)  his  triumphal  entry  into  Siena  on  its 
conquest  and  incorporation  with  Tuscany ;  and 
(iii)  his  being  given  the  rank  of  Grand  Duke 
by  Pius  V. 

Having  completed  and  set  up  the  statue  of 
his  father,  Ferdinand  then  set  Gian  da  Bologna  to 
work  upon  a  similar  equestrian  statue  of  himself, 
that  w^hich  stands  in  the  Piazza  S.  S.  Annunziata. 
This   statue   has    considerable   interest,   not   only 

'   Online  e  Descendcnza  de  Medici,  State  Archives,  Florence. 
-  Now  a  royal  villa  of  the  King-  of  Italy. 


XXV i]     TWO    NOTED    EQUESTRIAN    STATUES     363 

from  being  that  rendered  celebrated  by  Robert 
Browning's  poem  of  The  Statue  and  the  Busty 
but  also  on  other  grounds.  It  is  made  from  the 
bronze  guns  captured  from  the  Turks  in  the 
naval  victories  gained  by  Ferdinand's  fleet,  and 
bears  on  the  pedestal  his  private  crest,  the  swarm 
of  bees  and  motto  "  Majestate  tantum.'"  The 
horse  very  nearly  found  its  way  to  Paris,  and 
was  the  origin  of  a  celebrated  statue  in  that 
city.  In  1605  IMarie  de'  INledici  was  anxious 
to  present  to  Paris  an  equestrian  statue  of  her 
husband,  Henry  IV.,  to  be  set  up  on  the  open 
ground  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Pont- 
Neuf.  As  there  was  no  sculptor  *in  France 
capable  of  such  a  work,  she  wrote  to  her  uncle, 
Ferdinand  I.,  asking  that  he  would  allow  Gian  da 
Bologna  to  execute  it.  And  with  this  request  she 
coupled  another.  As  Gian  da  Bologna  was  eighty- 
one,  and  the  work  would  take  a  long  time,  she 
asked  her 'uncle  to  give  her  the  bronze  horse  which 
was  then  ready  to  receive  his  own  statue,  and  to 
let  another  be  made  for  himself  But  Ferdinand 
declined  to  accede  to  this  cool  request,  being  quite 
as  much  alive  as  Marie  was  to  the  probability  that 
Gian  da  Bologna  might  not  live  to  complete 
another  bronze  horse.  He,  however,  suggested 
that  the  moulds  used  for  casting  his  horse  miffht 
be  made  use  of  for  that  which  JNIarie  desired. 
This  was  done ;  though  owing  to  Gian  da 
Bologna's  death  it  was  nine  years  before  the 
statue  (including  both  the  horse  and  the  figure 
of  Henry  1\'.  ^)  was  completed.     Its  transport,  by 


'   Kotli  1 
ill  I'aiis  wer 


Fenliiiand's  own  .statue  in  Kloreiice  and  tliat  of  Henry  IV. 
;re  completed  by  Gian  da  IJolognas  pupil,  Tietro  'I'acca. 


364  FERDINAxND   I.  [chap. 

sea  from  Leghorn  to  Havre  and  thence  to  Paris, 
was  difficult,  but  after  being  dropped  overboard 
near  Ha\  re  and  recovered  from  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  the  statue  reached  Paris  and  was  in  1614  set  up 
on  the  Pont-Neuf,  to  Marie's  great  dehght.  Inside 
the  horse  (which  was  a  facsimile  of  that  which  bears 
Ferdinand's  statue)  was  placed  an  inscription  on 
vellum  stating  that  Ferdinand,  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  had  ordered  the  statue  to  be  executed 
by  Gian  da  Bologna,  and  had  it  finished  by  Pietro 
Tacca  in  affectionate  memory  of  Henry  IV. 

For  Francis  I.  Gian  da  Bologna  had  executed 
a  statue  celebrated  all  over  the  world.  For 
Ferdinand  I.  he  executed  one  as  little  known  as 
the  other  is  well  known,  viz.,  his  Geiiius  of  the 
Medici,^  represented  by  a  handsome  boy  holding 
aloft  in  one  hand  one  of  the  Medici  balls,  and 
clasping  under  the  other  arm  a  small  goat  signi- 
fying Capricorn,  the  sign  of  the  zodiac  under 
which  Cosimo  I.  was  born.  While  that*  sculptor's 
Mercury^  as  Perkins  says,  "  has  winged  its  way 
to  the  museums  and  houses  of  every  quarter 
of  the  globe,"  this  other  fine  specimen  of  Gian 
da  Bologna's  art,  and  one  so  interesting  in  its 
connection  with  the  Medici,  has  hitherto  been 
practically  unknown.  It  is  owing  to  the  diligent 
care  for  the  records  of  the  past  evinced  by  Signor 
Cornish,  Director  of  the  Pitti  Palace,  that  this 
beautiful  statue  has  been  brought  to  light,-  having 
hitherto  been  hidden  away  uncared  for  in  a  back 
courtyard  of  the  palace. 

In  1605  Pope  Clement  VIII.  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Leo    XL    (Alessandro   de'   Medici). 

^  /See  page  372.  ^  ,S'ee  chap,  xxviii.  p.  418. 


XXVI.]  AN   EXALTED   MARRIAGE  S65 

He  did  not  belong  to  this  family,  not  being 
a  descendant  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci.  He  was, 
however,  a  distant  connection,  being  descended 
from  a  brother  of  the  grandfather  of  Giovanni  di 
Bicci.  He  was  only  Pope  for  a  month,  when  he 
died  and  was  succeeded  by  Paul  V.  (1G05-1621). 

Ferdinand  and  Christine  had  eight  children : 
Cosimo,  who  succeeded  his  father,  Francesco, 
Carlo,  Lorenzo,  Eleonora,  Caterina,  ]Maddalena, 
and  Claudia.  They  were  all  quite  young  at  the 
time  of  their  father's  death,  Cosimo,  the  eldest, 
being  nineteen,  and  Claudia,  the  youngest,  only 
five  years  old. 

The  last  six  months  of  Ferdinand's  life  were 
chiefly  occupied  with  arrangements  for  the  marriage 
of  his  eldest  son.  Ferdinand  arranged  that  he 
should  be  married  to  the  Archduchess  Maria 
Maddalena,  daughter  of  the  Archduke  Charles  of 
Austria.  It  was  a  very  exalted  marriage,  Maria 
Maddalena's  sister  Margaret  being  already  married 
to  Philip  HI.  of  Spain,  while  her  brother  Ferdinand 
soon  afterwards  became  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II. 
The  Archduchess  came  to  Florence,  and  she  and 
Cosimo  were  married  in  San  Lorenzo  in  June 
1608  with  most  magnificent  ceremonies.  On  her  • 
arrival  part  of  the  walls  of  Florence  were  thrown 
down  and  a  new  gateway  opened  in  them  for 
her  to  enter  at ;  and  on  entering  she  received  the 
crown  of  Tuscany  from  Ferdinand  himself,  while 
"  the  city  blazed  with  magnificence." 

This  auspicious  event  closed  Ferdinand's  life ; 
he  died  on  the  7th  February  1609  at  the  age  of 
sixty,  leaving  the  affairs  of  the  family  in  a  most 


SGG  FERDINAND   I.  [^hap. 

prosperous  condition,  his  eldest  son  just  married 
to  the  sister  of  one  soon  to  be  the  Emperor, 
seven  other  children  growing  up,  and  an  enor- 
mous treasure  safely  stored  in  the  fortress  of  the 
Belvedere.  He  was  buried  with  all  the  pomp  which 
Florence  learned  to  associate  with  the  funeral  of  its 
Grand  Duke,  being  interred  in  the  New  Sacristy 
of  San  Lorenzo  pending  the  completion  of  the 
mausoleum  which  he  had  inaugurated,  and  to 
which  his  remains  were  eventually  removed.^  In 
the  crypt  of  that  mausoleum  there  has  recently 
been  placed  an  interesting  memorial  of  his  principal 
achievement.  On  the  3rd  March  1906,  being 
the  tercentenary  of  the  founding  of  Leghorn, 
the  Antiquarian  Society  of  that  city  visited  the 
mausoleum,  and,  after  an  impressive  oration  by 
the  President  of  the  Society  conveying  the  grati- 
tude which  Leghorn  felt  to  the  energy  and  ability 
of  its  founder,  Ferdinand  1.,  hung  a  handsome 
bronze  wreath  on  the  wall  over  his  tombstone 
inscribed  with  the  above  date.  So  that  Leghorn 
still  cherishes  with  gratitude  the  memory  of  the 
Medici. 

With  Ferdinand  I.  a  notable  change  begins 
in  connection  with  a  feeling  which  had  greatly 
affected  the  career  of  this  family  in  the  past, 
and  was  to  have  still  greater  effects  in  regard 
to  them  after  that  career  had  ended. 

1  When  in  1857  Ferdinand's  coffin  was  opened  the  body  was  found 
clothed  in  a  black  doublet  ornamented  with  stripes  of  velvet  and  satin, 
with  over  this  the  robes  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  of  Santo 
Stefano.  There  were  also  two  handsome  gold  medallions,  one  of  them 
bearing  his  likeness  and  name,  with,  on  the  reverse,  the  cross  of  Santo 
S+efano,  and  the  other  also  bearing  his  likeness  and  name,  with,  on 
the  reverse,  his  emblem  and  motto.  The  fine  bronze  statue  over  his 
monument  in  the  mausoleum  (Plate  CII.)  is  by  Pietro  Tacca. 


XXVI.]  WIDESPREAD   RESENTMENT  3G7 

Writers  on  their  history  belonging  to  other 
countries  liave  universally  found  an  insoluble 
problem  in  the  fact  that  even  after  the  Medici 
have  long  since  become  extinct  a  virulent  animosity 
against  them  should  still  continue  to  exist,  and 
that  they  should  be  under  a  cloud  in  the  city 
which  they  made  so  great.  It  was  felt  tliat 
political  antipathies,  however  strong,  did  not  suffice 
to  account  for  such  a  result ;  since  these  could 
scarcely  continue  in  sufficient  strength  to  have 
such  an  effect  after  the  entire  conditions  which 
called  them  forth  had  for  many  generations  passed 
away.  It  is,  however,  in  another  direction  that  the 
solution  to  this  problem  lies. 

The  Florentines,  with  all  tlieir  many  admirable 
qualities, .  possess  one  characteristic  which  is  the 
real  cause  of  this  phenomenon.  This  is,  a  power 
of  jealousy  in  degree  almost  inconceivable  to  those 
of  northern  race — a  characteristic  which  is  to  be 
seen  in  operation  throughout  all  Florentine  history. 
This  it  was  which  in  reality  created  the  fierce 
internecine  contests  which  time  after  time  rent 
Florence  during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries ;  this  it  was  which  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  brought  upon  the  Medici  the 
violent  attacks  which  they  experienced  eight  times 
in  succession  during  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  ^ 
and  this  again  it  is  which  has  caused  that  strange 
fact  which  has  puzzled  so  many  writers. 

The  poorer  classes  felt  a  fondness  for  the 
Medici  family  throughout  their  history,  and  had 
ample   reason   for   doing    so ;    while   even   to   tlie 

^  From  the  time  of  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae  to  that  of  Francis  I.^  viz., 
in  1433,  14GG,  1470,  1478,  1494,  1627,  1537,  and  1575,  including  tliree 
banishments  of  the  family. 


SG8  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

present  day  they  have  a  regard  for  their  memory. 

But  it  was  far  otherwise  with  all  those  Florentine 

families  who  had  originally  been  on  a  par  with  the 

Medici,  but  had  in  course  of  time  been  surpassed 

by  them.     That  result  was  due  to  the  effects  of 

intellectual  gifts  so  unusual  that  none  need  have 

felt  moved  by  resentment  at  it ;  but  nevertheless 

the  families  thus  surpassed  did  feel  the  bitterest 

resentment,  and  made  no  attempt  to  hide  the  fact. 

Nor  was  this  all.     When  a  despotic  monarchy 

is  succeeded  by  a  republic  there  is  only  one  family 

embittered  by  the  loss  of  former  greatness.     But 

when    a    republic    is    succeeded    by    a    despotic 

monarchy    there    are    created    an    hundred   such 

families ;   and  these   also   the   most  influential  in 

the   State.     Since   the   Christian    era   the   former 

case  has  occurred  often  in  history ;  but  the  latter 

case  has  only  occurred  twice — in  the  case  of  Rome, 

and  in  that  of  Florence.     But  whereas  Augustus  ^ 

carefully    avoided    all    appearance    of    despotism, 

and   whereas    the    notable   Roman   families   were 

not  ousted  from  public  affairs,  the  course  taken 

by   Cosimo    I.,   though    perhaps    forced    on    him 

by  circumstances,  was  the  exact  opposite  of  that 

pursued   by   Augustus.     We   have   seen   how   he 

took  every  opportimity  of  showing  that  he  wielded 

the  sole  power,  how  he  ruled  without  any  Council, 

and  how  he  invariably  chose  men  who  were  not 

Florentines  as  his   secretaries.     Not  a  single  one 

of  the   old   Florentine    famihes,   whose   members 

had  for  centuries  held  the  highest  offices  in  the 

State,  including  frequently  that  of  Gonfaloniere, 

saw  any  one  of  its  members  employed  by  Cosimo 

1    B.C.  28  to  A.D.    14. 


xxvi]  AN   UNDVLNG   JEALOUSY  369 

even  as  a  secretary.  It  may  be  imagined  wiiat 
fierce  wrath  such  a  state  of  things  created  ;  wrath 
which,  though  it  dared  not  show  itself,  was  all  the 
more  carefully  nourished  by  those  concerned. 
The  taking  away  of  a  "  liberty  "  which  had  never 
resulted  in  anything  but  internecine  strife  might 
in  time  have  been  forgiven  ;  but  the  deprivation 
of  all  the  power  and  importance  to  which  the 
leading  Florentine  families  had  for  generations 
been  accustomed  could  never  be  forgiven ;  it  was 
a  rankling  sore  which  could  never  be  healed.  The 
Medici,  like  other  families,  were  not  faultless ;  but 
even  had  they  been  angels  the  embittered  feelings 
(so  widely  shared)  consequent  on  the  bare  fact  of  a 
republic  being  succeeded  by  a  despotic  monarchy, 
were  alone  sufficient  to  produce  all  the  charges 
which  have  been  made  against  them. 

When,  therefore,  overt  attacks  had  no  longer 
a  chance  of  success,  the  JNIedici  having  become 
crowned  heads  supported  by  Emperors  and  Popes, 
these  other  families,  while  outwardly  acquiescing 
in  that  which  they  felt  powerless  to  reverse, 
nourished,  from  generation  to  generation,  an  in- 
tense jealousy  at  the  height  to  which  this  family 
had  attained,  and  vented  that  jealousy,  no  longer 
in  overt  attacks,  but  in  the  secret  fabrication  of 
stories  of  crime  to  cast  disgrace  upon  the  JNIedici. 

It  is  here  that  there  originated,  from  the  time 
of  Ferdinand  I.  onwards,  those  various  stories  of 
this  nature  which  have  "  passed  for  history,"  and 
which,  eagerly  caught  up  by  the  sensation-lovers  of 
all  ages  and  countries,  have  had  so  large  a  part 
in  forming  the  general  idea  entertained  of  the 
JNIedici,  that  atmosphere   of  the  dagger  and  the 

VOL.    II.  2    A 


370  FERDINAND   I.  [chap. 

bowl  by  which  melodrama  loves  to  surround  them. 
In  this  manner,  years  after  he  was  dead,^  were 
fabricated  against  Cosimo  I.  the  stories  that  he 
had  poisoned  his  own  daughter  and  killed  with 
his  own  hands  one  of  his  sons ;  and  against  his 
sons  the  stories  that  two  of  them  had  killed  each 
other,  that  another  had  ordered  the  murder  of 
his  sister-in-law,  that  a  fourth  had  murdered  his 
wife,  and  that  a  fifth  had  poisoned  his  brother 
and  instigated  the  murder  of  his  sister.^  Thus 
envenomed  jealousy  contrived  to  accuse  every  one 
of  Cosimo's  five  sons  of  the  murder  of  a  brother, 
a  sister,  or  a  wife.^  Even,  however,  were  all  these 
stories  true  it  would  still  be  the  case,  as  has  once 
before  been  remarked,  that  to  not  many  among 
the  ruling  families  of  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and 
seventeenth  centuries  have  so  few  crimes  of  murder 
been  attributed  as  to  the  thirteen  generations  of 
the  Medici.*  Therefore  it  is  not  owing  to  an  un- 
usual excess  of  crime  that  the  character  generally 

^  It  is  not  generally  realised  that  these  stories  were  not  rumours 
which  obtaiued  at  the  time  that  these  deaths  occurred,  but  stories 
which  made  their  first  appearance  long  afterwards  (in  some  cases  as 
much  as  a  hundred  years  or  more  afterwards),  and  in  every  case  from 
a  doubtful  source. 

2  It  will  scarcely  be  believed  (in  view  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  murder  in  question  occurred,  and  of  Ferdinand's  undoubted 
character),  but  it  is  a  fact  that  those  interested  in  fabricating  stories  of 
crime  against  Cosimo's  house  declared  in  after  years  that  the  murder 
of  Isabella  by  her  husband  Orsini  had  been  instigated  by  her  brother 
Ferdinand  and  was  carried  out  with  the  full  concurrence  of  her  brother 
Francis. 

"  'I'he  late  Signor  G.  E.  Saltini,  in  his  Tragidie  Medicee  (1898),  has 
taken  in  turn  each  of  these  stories  against  Cosimo  I.  and  his  sons, 
and  (assisted  by  the  almost  unique  knowledge  of  tlie  archives  of 
Tuscany  which  he  possessed)  has  subjected  each  of  these  stories  to  a 
searching  analysis,  with  the  result  that  the  whole  are  shown  to  be 
entirely  false.  Such  a  testimony  from  such  a  source  is  conclusive. 
Though  even  ^dthout  it  the  fact  would  be  certain,  on  the  grounds  which 
have  already  been  mentioned. 

■*  In  the  foregoing  chapters  every  case  attributed  to  tliem  hus  been 
mentioned  ;  so  that  the  above  statement  can  easily  be  verified. 


XXVI.]         ATTACKS   BY   SWORD    AND    PEN  371 

imputed  to  them  has  gained  its  prevalence.  This 
demonstrates  the  source  where  its  true  origin  is  to 
be  found. 

And  when  at  length  the  Medici  passed  away 
this  long-standing  jealousy  bore  fruit  in  a  never- 
ending  vilification  of  their  name,  in  accusations  of 
their  having  taken  away  a  "  liberty "  asserted  to 
have  existed  before  they  arose,  in  the  repetition 
of  these  legends  against  them,  and  in  endeavours 
in  all  possible  ways  to  obliterate  their  memory.^ 
The  Medici,  attacked  by  the  sword  in  their  earlier 
career,  were  attacked  still  more  virulently  by  the 
pen  when  they  were  no  more,  and  when  there 
remained  no  one  to  defend  their  memory.  Such 
were  the  results  of  the  ordinary  course  of  history 
being  reversed  by  a  despotic  monarchy  succeeding 
a  republic,  instead  of  the  opposite  case. 

Since  the  publication  of  JVie  Cambridge  Modern 
History  it  is  no  longer  possible  for  any  one  pre- 
tending to  a  knowledge  of  history  to  treat  these 
tales  of  abnormal  crimes  except  as  stories  finally 
condemned  as  entirely  without  foundation.  But 
they  show  how  great  was  the  jealousy  of  the  other 
principal  families  of  Florence  against  the  one  of 
their  number  which  had  surpassed  them,  a  jealousy 
which,  never  laid    aside,   appeared   to   grow  even 

^  Prominent  instances  are,  the  first  palace  built  by  them  given  the 
name  of  the  Riccardi  I'aliice,  the  second  palace  built  by  them  given 
the  name  of  the  Pitti  Palace,  the  important  library  collected  by  them 
given  the  name  of  the  Laurentian  Library,  the  great  galleries  of  art 
collected  by  them,  and  given  by  them  to  the  nation,  called  only  the 
I'ffi/.i  or  the  IMtti  Galleries,  and  with  no  sign  of  their  name  upon  doors 
or  walls,  the  tomb  of  the  great  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  (the  most 
prominent  Florentine  in  Europe)  left  without  even  a  tombstone,  with 
other  similar  instances,  'lliere  is  not  a  single  j)alace,  art  gallery, 
or  public  building  called  by  their  name.  And  it  would  be  quite 
po.'Jsible  for  a  foreign  visitor  to  see  all  the  sights  of  Florence  witliout 
ever  knowing  that  the  Medici  I'^d  anything  to  do  with  any  ouo  of 
them. 


372 


FERDINAND  I. 


[chap.  XXVI. 


stronger  after  the  grave  had  closed  over  the  last 
member  of  the  family  concerned.  Now,  however, 
that  a  better  day  has  dawned  it  is  time  that  these 
methods  of  a  bygone  age  should  be  repudiated. 
The  methods  themselves  have,  one  may  well 
believe,  been  abandoned ;  but  their  effects  still 
live,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  as  long  as  stories 
of  this  nature  against  the  Medici,  though  con- 
demned by  history  as  false,  are  still  repeated  by  a 
generation  which  would  not  itself  stoop  to  invent 
them,  and  by  whom  such  methods  cannot  but  be 
utterly  despised. 


Statue  of  The  Genius  of  the  Medici,  by  Gian  da  Bologna,  executed  for 
l\'i-(linaud  I. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

COSIMO   II. 

Born  1.590.     (Reigned  1609-1620.)     Died  1620. 

CosiMO  II.,  the  eldest  of  the  eight  children  of 
Ferdinand  I.  and  Christine  of  Lorraine,  succeeded 
his  father  as  Grand  Duke  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
The  good  disposition  which  he  inherited  from  his 
mother,  combined  with  the  excellent  training  which 
from  his  childhood  he  had  received,  made  him  a 
most  agreeable  cliaracter,  and  his  tolerance,  dislike 
of  quarrels  and  oppression,  friendly  temperament, 
and  social  tastes,  caused  him  to  be  universally 
liked.  In  these  respects  he  was  fully  seconded  by 
his  wife,  Maria  Maddalena  ;  and  under  this  young 
and  agreeable  pair,  the  court  gained  an  attractive- 
ness it  had  never  had  before.  Sustermans  was  now 
the  leading  portrait-painter  of  the  time,  and  his 
fine  portraits  of  Cosimo  and  JNlaria  Maddalena  ^  in 
the  Corsini  Gallery,  Florence,  enable  us  to  realise 
the  appearance  of  this  young  couple  at  the  time 
that  Cosimo  began  his  reign. 

With  Cosimo  II.  the  life  of  this  family  seems 

^  Plates  LXXIV.  and  LXXV.  Cosimo's  portrait  shows  hin)  wearing'- 
the  cloak  of  the  (Jraud  Master  of  tlie  Order  of  Saiito  Stefano,  and  round 
his  neck  a  handsome  chain  hearinj^  tlie  cross  of  that  Order.  Maria 
Maddalena  wears  a  very  frorfjeous  dress,  ornamented  with  a  strikinf^ 
design  in  heavy  gold  emhroidery,  and  a  lace  collar  of  a  different  shape 
from  the  large  "  Medici  "  collar  hitherto  in  vogue. 

373 


374  COSIMO  II.  [chap. 

to  enter  on  a  new  phase,  one  in  which,  during  his 
time,  youth,  brightness,  gaiety,  and  vivacity,  joined 
to  cultured  tastes,  a  free  expenditure  of  great 
wealth,  and  warm  interest  in  amazing  scientific 
discoveries  were  the  prevailing  features.  While  he 
himself  was  nineteen,  his  wife  Maria  Maddalena 
was  the  same  age  as  his  eldest  sister  Eleonora, 
namely  eighteen,  his  sister  Caterina  was  sixteen, 
his  brother  Francesco  fifteen,  and  his  brother  Carlo 
fourteen ;  ^  all  of  them  were  cultured,  accomplished, 
and  abounding  with  youthful  spirits ;  and  this 
band  of  young  people,  gathering  others  of  their 
own  age  about  them,  made  the  palace,  with 
their  constant  entertainments,  lightheartedness,  and 
genial  sociability,  in  a  short  time  full  of  life  and 
animation.  It  is  a  pleasant  view  that  we  have  of 
these  sons  and  daughters  of  Ferdinand  I.  Cosimo 
himself,  with  his  brothers  Francesco,  Carlo,  and 
I^orenzo,  all  showed  in  their  lives  both  good 
quaUties  of  character  and  good  abilities.  Again, 
in  regard  to  their  sisters  Eleonora,  Caterina, 
Maddalena,  and  Claudia,  we  hear  in  no  case  of 
any  of  those  scandals  which  had  disgraced  the 
former  generation ;  and  while  Eleonora  and 
Maddalena  had  no  opportunity  of  distinguishing 
themselves,  Caterina  and  Claudia  both  showed 
in  their  respective  spheres  the  good  qualities  and 
high  abilities  they  possessed.^ 

The  Pitti      One  effect  of  these  new  conditions  was 

Palace  (2).     i\^^i  Cosimo  uow  determined  that  the 

Grand    Ducal    palace    must    be    much    enlarged 

^  The  twins,  Lorenzo  and  Maddalena,  were  nine,  while  their  little 
8ister  Claudia  was  five. 
2  Pages  387  and  397- 


PLVTE    LXXIV. 


Alinari] 


LUSI.MII     II. 

li\'  SustiTiiia 


[Corglnt   (hdlerij,  Florence. 


ri.ATK    I. XXV. 


AUiidfl] 


MARIA    MADDALKNA    (il      AL^llUA,    WIFE    OF    COSIMO    II. 

By  Sustcrniaiis. 

[Corst'iii  O alter II,  Fioience. 


xxvii]  VILLA   OF   POGGIO   IMPERLALE  375 

and  improved  in  appearance.  He  accordingly  set 
about  extending  it  to  three  times  its  former  size, 
by  increasing  the  length  of  the  fa9ade  from  seven 
windows  to  thirteen,  and  erecting  two  great  wings 
(three  stories  high)  at  right  angles  to  the  back  of 
the  building,^  enclosing  a  large  central  courtyard, 
with  a  terrace  at  the  back  of  the  latter  on  a  level 
with  the  rooms  on  the  first  floor.-  The  work  was 
rapidly  carried  out,  all  the  necessary  stone  being 
quarried  on  the  site  itself,  the  soUd  rock  on  which 
the  palace  stands  having  to  be  cut  away  in  order 
to  get  sufficient  level  space  for  the  wings  added 
at  the  back  of  it.  This  great  enlargement  of  the 
building,  together  with  the  costly  additions  which 
Cosimo  at  the  same  time  made  to  the  furniture  and 
interior  decoration,  made  the  Grand  Ducal  palace 
a  much  more  splendid  abode  than  it  hitherto  had 
been. 

Not  content  with  this  Cosimo  also  built  for 
his  wife,  Maria  Maddalena,  the  palatial  villa  of 
Poggio  Imperiale  (called  so  in  honour  of  her  with 
reference  to  her  Imperial  descent),  on  a  site  which 
she  particularly  admired  on  the  slope  of  the  hill 
leading  down  from  Arcetri,  outside  the  southern 
environs  of  the  city ;  to  which  villa  he  made  the 
truly  royal  road,  nearly  a  mile  in  length  and 
bordered  on  each  side  with  a  strip  of  garden  and 
a  double  avenue  of  splendid  cypress  trees,  which 
ascends  to  it  from  the  Porta  Romana.  The 
building  has  for  many  years   been  given  by  the 

J  Se,!  Plate  LXXIX.  (p.  387)  ;  an.l  plan,  Appendix  XIV. 
On  the  tenact!  the  heautif'ul  fountain  (with  marble  Cupids  in 
graceful  attitudes  on  its  edge),  thougli  it  is  a  part  of  tlie  extension  of 
the  palace  by  Cosimo  II.,  was  designed  by  Annnanati,  Cosimo  I.'s 
architect.  Tlie  sound  of  its  water  lias  a  delicious  effect  in  the  cool  and 
shady  courtyard  below  She  i'9V}:9CQ. 


376  COSIMO   11.  [chap. 

King  of  Italy  as  a  Government  College  for  young 
ladies,  but  the  reception  rooms  are  kept  much  as 
they  were  formerly,  and  these  show  various  remi- 
niscences of  the  time  when  this  was  the  favourite 
residence  of  Cosimo  and  Maria  Maddalena.^  Each 
of  these  later  generations  of  the  family  had  their 
favourite  villa,  which  thus  becomes  specially  associ- 
ated with  them.  With  Cosimo  I.  it  had  been 
Castello  ;  with  Francis  I.,  Poggio  a  Caiano ;  with 
Ferdinand  I.,  Petraia ;  but  Poggio  Imperiale  had 
a  longer  period  of  favour,  being  not  only  the 
favourite  villa  of  Cosimo  II.  and  Maria  Maddalena, 
but  also  of  Ferdinand  II.  and  his  generation  of 
the  family.  Moreover  one  important  fact  con- 
nected with  it  makes  it  one  of  the  most  interesting 
buildings  of  Florence.^ 

But  Cosimo  II.  was  occupied  with 
other  matters  more  important  to  the 
world  than  the  enlargement  of  the  Grand  Ducal 
palace,  the  construction  of  the  villa  of  Poggio 
Imperiale,  and  social  entertainments.  His  reign 
began  the  demonstration  of  a  fact  not  always 
sufficiently  realised,  viz.,  that  Florence  did  not 
only  lead  the  world  in  Learning  and  Art,  but  in 
Science  also ;  a  fact  still  further  demonstrated  in 
the  reign  of  his  son,  Ferdinand  11.^  This  fresh 
addition  to  Florence's  laurels  was  begun  by  a  step 
taken  by  Cosimo  as  soon  as  he  came  to  the  throne 

^  The  walls  are  adorned  with  numerous  frescoes,  one  of  which  shows 
the  open  space  in  front  of  the  building-  as  it  was  in  Cosimo's  time,  and 
another  gives  a  picture  of  the  Medici  villa  of  Cafagiriolo  in  the  Mugello. 
Some  of  the  rooms  still  contain  portraits  of  various  members  of  the 
Medici  family. 

2  See  p.  379. 

3  Chap  xxviii.  pp.  4,30-439, 


XXVII.]  GALILEO  377 

which  proved  the  most  important  act  of  his  reign, 
signaHsing  it  even  more  than  that  of  his  father  had 
been  signaHsed  by  the  creation  of  Leghorn,  and 
bringing  lasting  renown  to  Florence,  as  well  as  to 
his  own  name.  This  was  his  act  of  inviting  back, 
protecting  from  persecution,  and  establishing  in 
honour  in  his  own  country,  the  great  Galileo,  who 
had  eighteen  years  before  been  compelled  by  jealous 
animosity  to  leave  it.  Galileo  Galilei,  born  in 
1564  at  Pisa,  had  at  the  early  age  of  twent} - 
three  been  appointed  Professor  of  INIathematics 
at  the  University  of  Pisa.  And  it  was  there  that 
he  made  his  first  great  discovery,  that  which 
resulted  in  his  invention  of  the  pendulum.  The 
late  Signor  Vincenzo  Antinori,  Director  of  the 
Scientific  JNIuseum  of  Florence,  in  his  notice  of 
Galileo,  says : — 

"  The  pendulum,  as  is  already  known,  was  the 
result  of  the  first  observations  of  our  philosopher 
in  Pisa ;  it  was  the  spark  which  kindled  his  genius, 
the  instrument  by  which  he  tested  the  conceptions 
of  his  mind,  the  torch  which  led  him  along  the 
path  of  his  discoveries.  The  pendulum,  by  proving 
the  resistance  of  air,  served  to  confirm  him  in  his 
theory  of  gravitation  ;  it  likewise  illustrated  his 
theory  of  music  by  the  intersection  of  waves  of 
sound.  Tlie  pendulum  suspended  to  a  fixed  centre 
suggested  to  him  the  motion  of  the  earth,  with 
the  moon,  round  the  sun.  And  it  is  singular  to 
reflect  how  the  two  marvellous  discoveries  with 
which  he  so  hapjMly  conunenced  his  glorious  career, 
the  isochronism  of  the  pendulum  and  gravitation, 
should  have  occupied  him  at  its  close." 

But  in   1592,  when   Galileo  was  twenty-eight,  he 


378  COSIMO   II.  [cKAP. 

had  been  forced,  owing  to  the  macliinations  of 
those  who  were  jealous  of  his  fame  and  abihties, 
assisted  by  the  Jesuits  (who  objected  to  his  new 
theories),  to  resign  his  professorship  and  retire  to 
Padua,  where  he  had  for  eighteen  years  been 
supporting  himself  by  teaching  mathematics,  and 
where  Cosimo  as  a  youth  had  for  some  time  been 
his  pupil. 

As  soon  as  he  became  Grand  Duke  Cosimo 
invited  Galileo,  then  forty-six  years  old,  to  return 
to  Tuscany,  and  established  him  at  Florence, 
giving  him  a  villa  at  Arcetri  (not  far  from  where 
he  was  building  his  own  new  villa  of  Poggio 
Imperiale),  and  creating  for  him  an  appointment 
as  "  Chief  Mathematician  to  the  Grand  Duke," 
with  an  annual  salary  of  1,000  scudi}  And  in  this 
capacity  Galileo  remained  for  twenty-three  years, 
provided  with  a  maintenance  which  left  him  free 
to  prosecute  his  scientific  studies,  and  shielded, 
under  the  personal  protection  of  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  from  the  machinations  of  his  enemies 
both  at  Florence  and  Rome ;  during  which  time 
he  made  the  whole  of  his  discoveries.  And  the 
subsequent  history  showed  that  had  it  not  been 
for  this  protection  on  the  part  of  Cosimo  II. 
these  discoveries  would  never  have  been  made  by 
Galileo ;  for  nothing  but  this  protection  prevented 
the  Jesuits  from  silencing  him  in  1610  as  they 
eventually  succeeded  in  doing  in  1633.^ 

The  above  action  on  Cosimo's  part  very  quickly 
produced  astonishing  results.  Shortly  after  his 
establishment  at  Florence  Galileo  invented  the  tele- 

'  Equal  nowadays  to  a  salary  of  over  £2,000  a  year. 
*  See  chap,  xxviii.  jjp.  405-408. 


xxvn.]  ASTOUNDING    DISCOVERIES  379 

scope,^  and  in  the  first  year  of  Cosimo's  reign  began 
by  its  means  to  make  those  great  discoveries  which 
were  destined  to  revolutionise  man's  knowledge  of 
his  place  in  the  universe."  The  celebrated  astron- 
omer, Sir  John  Herschel,  says  : — 

"  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  Galileo  must 
have  felt  when,  having  constructed  his  telescope, 
he  for  the  first  time  turned  it  to  the  heavens,  and 
saw  the  mountains  and  valleys  in  the  moon. — Then 
the  moon  was  another  earth ;  the  earth  another 
planet ;  and  all  were  subject  to  the  same  laws. 
What  an  evidence  of  the  simplicity  and  magnifi- 
cence of  nature  !  But  at  length  he  turned  it  again, 
still  directing  it  upwards,  and  again  he  was  lost: 
for  he  was  now  among  the  fixed  stars ;  and  if  not 
magnified  as  he  expected  them  to  be,  they  were 
multiplied  beyond  measure.  What  a  moment  of 
exultation  for  such  a  mind  as  his  ! " 

The  villa  of  Poggio  Imperiale  gains  a  new 
interest  when  we  realise  that  it  must  have  been 
there  that  all  these,  and  the  other  great  astro- 
nomical wonders  which  din*ing  the  next  two  or 
three  years  successively  became  known  to  Galileo, 
were  first  narrated  to  others.  For  he  would 
certainly  convey  them  first  to  one  who  had  made 
it  possible  for  him  to  make  these  discoveries,  and 
who,  though  he  was  Grand  Duke,  Galileo  knew  to 
be  as  keenly  interested  in  the  matter  as  himself. 
We  can  imagine  the  enthusiasm  with  which,  after 

^  Galileo's  original  telescope,  with  many  of  his  otlier  instruments, 
is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  Natural  Science,  Florence.  Besides 
it  and  the  pendulum,  he  invented  the  thermometer,  the  hydrostatic 
balance,  and  the  proportional  compass,  discovered  the  laws  of  weight, 
and  was  tlie  first  experimental  philosoplier. 

'  (Jalilco's  statue  has  conscciuently  received  a  place  in  Florence's 
gallery  of  lionour  in  the  (Jffizi  colonnade  beside  Petrarch,  Dauln, 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  Michelangelo, 


380  COSTMO    II.  [chap. 

a  niglit  spent  jimong  the  stars,  lie  would  hasten 
down  to  relate  to  Cosimo  some  fresh  discovery  ; 
as  well  as  the  amazement  with  wliicli  the  circle 
gathered  in  the  Grand  Ducal  villa  on  the  slope  of 
the  Arcetri  hill  first  heard  the  astounding  truths 
which  Galileo  had  to  relate,  which  revolutionised 
all  that  had  hitherto  been  believed  on  such  matters, 
and  proved  that  the  earth  was  not  the  centre  of 
the  universe,  but  merely  a  minute  planet  in  the 
solar  system. 

Galileo's  celebrated  tower  at  Arcetri,^  from 
which  "  in  the  still  midnight  of  far-off  time  its 
master  read  the  secrets  of  the  stars,"  ^  stands  over- 
looking Florence  from  the  southern  hills  :  as  though 
to  be  a  constant  reminder  of  all  that  was  from 
thence  unfolded  to  mankind. 

"  We  hail 
Thy  sunny  slope,  Arcetri,  sung  of  old 
For  its  green  vine ;  dearer  to  me,  to  most, 
As  dwelt  on  by  the  great  astronomer ; 

Sacred  be 
His  villa  (justly  was  it  called  the  Gem  ^), 
Sacred  the  lawn,  where  many  a  cypress  threw 
Its  length  of  shadow,  while  he  watched  the  stars."  * 

Thus  did  Florence,  which  had  led  the  world 
in  Learning  and  Art,  now  that  the  sovereignty  in 
that  domain  had  passed  away  from  her,  place  on 
her  brows  a  fresh  crown  of  leadership,  and  show 
the  way  in  that  new  branch  of  knowledge.  Science, 
which  was  henceforth  to  be  the  chief  interest  of 
the  intellect  of  the  world.  It  was  fitting  that  the 
Medici  should  be  as  closely  associated  with  this  new 
leadership  as  they  had  been  with  that  of  the  past. 

1  The  "Torre  del  Gallo."  ■  Pascarel,  by  Ouida. 

^  //  Giojello.  ■*  Rogers's  Italy. 


xxvii.]  "THE    MEDICEAN   STARS"  381 

Nor  did  their  connection  with  this  stepping  forth 
by  Florence  on  a  fresh  path  of  renown  go  without 
a  permanent  record.  The  first  hitherto  unknown 
stars  revealed  to  Galileo  by  his  telescope  in  the  first 
year  of  Cosimo's  reign  were  the  satellites  of  Jupiter. 
And  to  these,  in  gratitude  to  one  who  had  made 
it  possible  for  him  to  carry  on  such  investiga- 
tions, Galileo  gave  the  name  of  iJie  Mcdicccui  stars 
(Stellae  INIedicae).  Thus  the  satellites  of  Jupiter 
preserve  for  all  time  among  scientific  men  a 
memorial  that  the  Medici  helped  to  bring  about 
the  first  great  discoveries  of  modern  science.' 
And  if  the  founding  of  Leghorn  is  to  be  con- 
sidered a  "  masterpiece  "  on  the  part  of  Ferdinand 
I.,  far  more  may  action  which  enabled  tlicse  great 
revelations  of  science  to  be  made  by  Galileo  be 
considered  so  on  the  part  of  Cosimo  II. 

In  1610  Cosimo  sent  an  embassy  to  Marie  de 
France  to  condole  with  his  cousin,  JNlarie  Medici  (2). 
de  Medici,  on  the  sudden  death  of  her  husband, 
Henry  IV.,  who  was  stabbed  in  his  coach  while 
proceeding  to  a  state  function  ;  whereupon  Marie 
became  Queen  Regent  of  France  during  the 
minority  of  her  eldest  son  Louis,  then  nine  years 
old.  It  was  remarked  that  her  nine-year-old  son 
was  as  fit  to  reign  as  she  was.  Cosimo's  envoy 
obtained  scant  attention  from  her  to  his  message, 
for  Marie  could  think  of  nothing  but  the  grandeur 
of  her  coronation  as  Queen  Regent,  and  constantly 
interrupted  the  envoy  to  describe  it  to  him,  and 
how  her  throne  had  "  had  nineteen  steps."  Marie's 
children  were,    Louis  XIII.   of  France;    Gaston, 

^  See  also  cliap.  xxviii.  pp.  438-439. 


58S  COSIMO   11.  [chap. 

Duke  of  Orleans  ;  Elizabeth,  married  to  Philip  IV. 
of  Spain  ;  Henrietta  Maria,  married  to  Charles  I.  of 
England ;  ^  and  Christine,  married  to  the  Duke 
of  Savoy ;  while  her  sister  Eleonora's  daughter 
Eleonora  married  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  11.^ 
Thus  in  the  eleventh  generation  from  Giovanni 
di  Bicci  we  see  a  INIedici  seated  on  the  throne 
of  each  of  the  four  principal  countries  of  Europe, 
France,  Spain,  England,  and  Germany.^  JNIarie's 
subsequent  history  was  a  sad  one.  As  Queen 
Regent,  she  was  entirely  ruled  by  her  Minister, 
Concini,  and  her  powerful  mistress  of  the  robes, 
Leonora  Gallegai,  whom  she  had  brought  from 
Florence,  and  who  trafficked  in  all  appointments 
throughout  the  kingdom.  In  1617  Marie's  son, 
Louis  XIII.,  threw  off  her  authority,  confined  her 
at   Blois   (whence   she   escaped^),   and   eventually 

'  Henrietta  Maria's  son,  Charles  II.,  with  his  dark  hair  and  swarthy 
complexion,  showed  traces  of  the  Medici  blood. 

-  She  was  married  to  him  at  Innsbruck  in  1622.  ITiere  are  two 
portraits  of  Eleonora  Gonzaga  at  Florence,  one  a  pretty  picture  of  her 
as  a  child  (in  the  Pitti  Gallery),  and  the  other  when  she  was  grown  up 
(in  the  Uffizi  Gallery),  the  latter  by  Sustermans. 

^  See  vol.  i.  p.  14. 

*  Marie's  escape  from  the  castle  of  Blois  had  in  it  a  decidedly  comic 
element.  She  was  imprisoned  in  the  suite  of  apartments  which  had 
been  those  of  Catherine  de'  Medici.  Cardillac  and  the  Count  de  Brenne, 
who  assisted  her  to  escape,  decided  that  as  all  the  doors  and  passages 
were  carefully  guarded  she  must  drop  from  one  of  her  windows  on  to  the 
terrace  (which  at  that  time  extended  half  way  up  to  the  first  floor) 
overlooking  the  town,  and  fi'om  the  terrace  to  the  street.  But  the 
Queen  was  fat  and  unwieldy,  and  looked  with  terror  at  the  slender 
rope-ladders  provided,  while  she  declared  that  for  her  to  be  seen  swing- 
ing about  in  such  a  position  would  be  exceedingly  undignified.  How- 
ever, there  was  no  other  way,  and  finally,  on  the  night  of  the  21st 
February  1618,  she  had  to  attempt  it.  With  great  difficulty  they  got 
her  down  the  first  ladder  to  the  terrace,  but  in  such  a  terrified  state 
that  she  refused  altogether  to  face  the  second  ladder.  It  seemed  that 
the  attempt  must  fail.  But  eventually  they  discovei'ed  a  narrow 
gully  in  the  walls  ;  they  tied  her  up  in  a  heavy  cloak,  and  Cardillac 
guiding  her  course  from  above,  and  De  Brenne  dragtring  from  below, 
she  was  toboganned  down  to  the  street,  more  like  a  bale  of  goods  than 
a  queen  of  France.  There  she  was  placed  in  a  carriage,  which  con- 
veyed her  in  safety  to  Loches. 


JM.ATE  LXXVI. 


I',.'rln„ 


HAN'CKSCOj    S(IN    (IK    I-i:K1)IN.VM>    I. 


{Vltiu  (;,(/(cni. 


PLATE  I.XXVII. 


EI.EUNORA    1)E      MEDICI,    ELDEST    DAKilirER    OK    FERDINAND    I. 

Burton]  ['^T^-'  Oaljerii. 


xxvn.]  THE    MISFORTUNES   OF   MARIE  383 

exiled  her  from  France.  Advised  by  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  he  refused  to  make  her  any  allowance 
unless  she  would  return  to  Florence.  But  Marie's 
pride  rebelled  against  becoming  a  mere  appanage 
of  the  Tuscan  court  after  having  been  Queen 
Regent  of  France,  and  nothing  would  induce  her 
to  accede  to  this ;  so  she  took  refuge  in  Holland. 
After  many  hardships  from  want  of  any  resources, 
and  a  fruitless  visit  to  England  in  1636  to  her 
son-in-law  Charles  I.  and  her  daughter  Henrietta 
Maria,  she  retired  in  great  poverty  to  Antwerp, 
her  children  being  all  either  unwilling  or  unable 
to  make  her  any  allowance.  Soon,  however,  she 
was  requested  by  the  authorities  to  leave  Antwerp, 
and  then  migrated  to  Cologne,  where  the  painter 
Rubens,  who  had  often  been  employed  by  her 
when  she  was  Queen  of  France,^  gave  her  a  house 
to  live  in.  There  after  many  sufferings  she  died 
in  1642  m  absolute  de^ititution,  it  is  said  in  a 
hayloft. 

Cosimo  II.  was  the  last  of  the  Medici  to  be 
a  banker.  Soon  after  ascending  the  throne  he 
abandoned  the  practice  of  private  trading,  closed 
the  family  bank  with  its  branches  in  various 
capitals,  and  discontinued  all  commerce  on  his 
own  account,  considering  that  the  practice  was 
derogatory  to  a  reigning  sovereign,  as  well  as 
harmful  to  the  trade  of  the  country.  The  step 
considerably  reduced  the  income  of  the  family,  but 
their  immense  wealth  made  this  of  less  consequence. 

^  The  two  larp:e  pictures  by  Rubens  in  the  Sala  di  Rubens?  of  the 
Uffizi  Gallery,  representing?  Henry  IV.  at  the  battle  of  Ivry,  and  his 
triunipliant  entry  into  Paris,  were  painted  for  Marie  dc  -Medici,  and  sent 
by  her  as  a  present  to  lier  uncle  Ferdinand  I.  They  are  a  portion  of 
a  set  the  remainder  of  which  arc  iu  tlie  Louvre. 


384.  COSIMO   II.  [chap. 

In  1614,  when  Cosimo  was  four  -  and  -  twenty, 
and  had  been  reigning  for  five  years,  all  his  life 
was  changed  in  consequence  of  a  severe  illness, 
the  result  of  an  attack  of  malignant  fever,  and 
from  this  time  forward  he  became  a  confirmed 
invalid.  This  permanent  ill-health  forced  him  to 
give  but  little  attention  to  State  affairs,  which  had 
its  effect  on  the  country,  inducing  a  general  apathy 
in  public  matters,  under  which  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  declined ;  and  it  might  have  had 
more  serious  results  had  it  not  been  Cosimo's  good 
fortune  to  reign  during  a  time  when  Europe  was 
at  peace,  and  when  Tuscany  was  blessed  with 
unusually  abundant  harvests.  At  the  same  time 
Cosimo's  temperate  and  tolerant  disposition  made 
him  respected  and  liked  by  the  people,  notwith- 
standing the  undesirable  results  of  a  weak  rule. 
And  though  forced  to  live  a  very  quiet  life,  he 
did  not  shut  himself  up  in  gloomy  seclusion,  but 
continued  to  take  interest  in  the  amusements  of 
the  people  and  in  social  festivities,  even  though 
able  himself  to  take  little  part  in  them.  He  also 
encouraged  Art  and  I^iterature  with  all  the  zeal  of 
his  race,  making  various  valuable  additions  to  the 
family  collections. 

The  political  events  of  Cosimo's  reign  were  few. 
His  chief  interest  was  in  his  navy,  and  he  took 
every  opportunity  of  adding  to  its  strength  and 
efficiency.  In  the  construction  of  new  ships  he 
received  much  assistance  from  Sir  Robert  Dudley,^ 
who  liad  taken  refuge  at  Leghorn  and  had  great 
talents  for  shipbuilding.     He  invented  for  Cosimo 

'  Son  of  tlie  Earl  of  Leicester  by  a  previous  marriage  to  that  with 
Amy  Robsart. 


XXVII.]  COSIMO'S   NAVY  385 

various  new  descriptions  of  ships  of  war ;  but  it 
was  eventually  decided  that  for  the  Mediterranean 
warfare  the  galleys  propelled  by  oars  were  better 
adapted  than  any  other  pattern  of  ship.  Cosimo 
sent  his  fleet,  led  by  the  knights  of  San  Stefano, 
to  assist  the  Druses  against  the  Turks,  and  in  this 
service  they  won  still  further  renown.  On  only 
one  occasion  was  Cosimo  involved  in  a  dispute 
with  another  country  which  threatened  to  produce 
serious  consequences.  When  in  1617  Louis  XIII. 
threw  off  his  mother's  authority  he  caused  her 
chief  Minister,  Concini,  to  be  assassinated,  and 
transferred  the  property  of  the  murdered  man  to  his 
own  favourite,  De  Luynes.  Cosimo  took  up  the 
cause  of  Concini's  son,  refused  to  recognise  the 
confiscation  of  property  decreed  by  the  French 
courts,  and  demanded  that  the  murdered  man's 
son  should  be  allowed  to  inherit  it.  Much  ill- 
feeling  followed  between  the  two  countries,  and 
mutual  reprisals,  which  were  only  brought  to  an 
end  by  the  intervention  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine. 
The  Thirty  Years'  War,  which  began  about  a  year 
before  Cosimo's  death,  did  not  affect  Tuscany, 
which  was  steadily  sinking  into  a  position  of  less 
and  less  importance  in  the  affairs  of  Europe. 

In  1614,  the  same  year  that  Cosimo's  severe 
illness  occurred,  the  first  death  took  place  among 
the  eight  brothers  and  sisters.^  Francesco,  who 
had  taken  up  a  military  career,  and  had  been 
nominated  to  the  command  of  the  army,  died  at 
Pisa  in  December  at  the  age  of  twenty.  In  his 
portrait  in  the    Uffizi    Gallery^   he   wears  a  very 

'  For  list  of  Cosimo's  brotliers  and  sisters,  see  Appendix  XII. 
^  Plate  LXXVl. 
VOL.    II.  2    B 


386  COSIMO  II.  [chap. 

splendid  dress,  consisting  of  a  coat  of  mail  with 
lace  collar  and  ruffles,  the  peculiar  wide  padded 
breeches  of  the  time,  profusely  embroidered  in  red 
and  gold,  and  long  scarlet-coloured  stockings.  In 
his  hand  he  holds  the  baton  denoting  his  command 
of  the  army.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  on  the 
table  by  his  side  he  is  given  a  jewelled  coronet, 
having  round  it  the  Florentine  lily  repeated  five 
or  six  times,  as  worn  by  the  younger  brothers  and 
sons  of  the  Grand  Duke ;  this  being  the  first  time 
that  this  feature  appears.^ 

Three  years  later,  in  December  1617,  Cosimo's 
eldest  sister,  Eleonora,  died,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
six.  She  had  been  engaged  to  Philip  III.  of 
Spain,  but  he  broke  off  the  engagement,  and  it  is 
stated  that  Eleonora  died  of  a  broken  heart  in 
consequence.  In  her  portrait  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery  - 
she  wears  a  jewelled  coronet,  a  high  ruff,  and  a 
very  handsome  dress  with  long  open  sleeves,  though 
the  full  padded  skirt  has  the  effect  of  making  her 
look  very  short.^  Earlier  in  the  same  year  Cosimo's 
second    sister,    Caterina,^   then   twenty -four,   was 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened  the  body  was  found  "  dressed  in  a  doublet  of  white  satin, 
with  lace  ruffles  on  the  wrists,  and  a  large  cloak,  also  of  white  satin, 
extending  do\\4h  to  the  knees  ;  and  with  stockings  of  silk,  and  long 
leather  boots.  Fixed  inside  the  coffin  was  a  plate  of  gilded  bronze 
with  his  name,  age,  and  the  date  of  his  death." 

2  Plate  LXXVII. 

^  She  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  Wlien  her  coffin  ^vas 
opened  in  1857  "  the  body  was  found  clothed  in  a  dress  of  silver  and 
gold  tissue,  of  violet  colour,  with  large  open  sleeves,  and  with  a  very 
large  ruff  of  the  most  beautiful  lace  round  the  neck.  The  skirt  of  the 
dress  was  covered  all  over  with  artificial  flowers,  and  a  garland  of 
artifical  flowers  on  the  head.  On  the  breast  was  a  leaden  plate  bearing 
her  name,  age,  and  the  date  of  her  death." 

^  Plate  LXXVIII.  On  the  table  are  letters  addressed  to  her  as 
Duchess  of  Mantua.  She  wears  a  heavy  pearl  necklace,  and  her  dress 
is  profusely  embroidered,  while  the  sleeve  is  of  a  new  pattern  which 
had  superseded  that  shown  in  her  mother's  portrait  (Plate  LXXI.). 


I'l.ATK   l.XXVIII. 


•  ATKHINA    1>K     Mi;i)I(  I.    DAI  MITKU   (l|-   I  i:i«l>I\AM)   I.,    Kl  i  lll>s  (II     MAMIA. 


J.-* 


-   ■=  C5  514 


XXVII.]  STRONG   FAMILY   LIKENESS  387 

married  to  Ferdinand  Gonzaga,  Duke  of  Mantua. 
On  being  left  a  widow  in  1626  she  returned  to 
Tuscany,  and  was  made  Governor  of  Siena,  dying 
there  of  small-pox  in  1629,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
six,  with  a  reputation  for  great  piety/  Caterina's 
portrait  and  that  of  her  sister  Claudia,"  as  w^ell  as 
others  in  the  Pitti  Gallery  of  Cosimo's  brothers, 
show  what  a  strong  ftimily  likeness  existed  between 
all  these  brothers  and  sisters,  all  of  them  haxing 
the  same  peculiar  nose  and  mouth  (unpleasing,  but 
showing  much  character)  w^hich  we  see  in  Cosimo's 
portrait,  and  which  they  evidently  inherited  from 
their  mother,  Christine  of  Lorraine.^  And  it  is 
remarkable  to  notice  that  this  feature  appears  again 
in  yet  a  third  generation,  as  can  be  seen  by  the 
portraits  of  Cosimo's  children,  Ferdinand  II.,  his  four 
brothers,  and  their  sisters  INIargherita  and  Anna/ 

Cosimo's  second  brother.  Carlo,  became  a 
cardinal,  and  rose  to  importance  at  the  V^atican, 
living  to  the  age  of  seventy.  His  third  brother, 
Lorenzo,  who  was  twenty  when  Cosimo  died,  lived 
to  the  age  of  forty-eight.  Lorenzo's  twin  sister, 
INIaddalena,  became  a  nun  at  the  age  of  twenty 
in  the  convent  of  the  Crocetta  a  few  months 
after  her  brother  Cosimo's  death,  and  died  there  in 
1633,  at   the  age  of  thirty-three.^     The   youngest 

'  Slie  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum. 

2  See  Plate  LXXXIII. 

»  See  I»late  LXXX. 

*  &e  Plates  LXXXII,  LXXXI  v.,  LXXXV.,  LXXXVI.,  LXXXVIII., 
XC,  XCI.,  and  XCII. 

^  She  was  buried  l)y  her  own  desire  in  the  convent  of  the  Crocetta, 
but  in  1810  her  remains  were  removed  to  the  family  mausoleum. 
When  in  1857  her  cofiiii  was  opened,  the  body  was  found,  not  clothed 
as  a  nun,  but  "  in  a  dress  of  violet-coloured  brocade,  with  many 
flowers  of  silver  sewn  on  tiie  skirt  of  the  dress,  and  .scattered  round 
the  head,  perhaps  havinfrT  orijjinally  formed  a  jrarland.  'I'he  shoes 
were  uf  velvet  in  good  presBrvation,  with  very  hifjli  lieels  of  cork. 
Inside  the  coffui  was  a  Icideu  plate  witli  her  name,  age,  and  the 
tiate  of  her  death," 


388  COSIMO    II.  [chap. 

sister  of  all,  Chiudia,  was  married  in  1620,  the 
year  of  her  brother  Cosimo's  death,  when  she  was 
sixteen,  to  Federigo  della  Rovere,  the  only  son  of 
the  Duke  of  Urbino,  a  worthless  boy  two  years 
younger  than  herself,  who,  however,  died  of  his 
excesses  before  he  was  eighteen,  when  she  returned 
to  Florence  with  one  baby  daughter,  who  was  the 
sole  heiress  of  her  grandfather,  the  old  Duke  of 
Urbino.^ 

In  1619  Cosimo's  brother-in-law,  Maria 
Maddalena's  brother,  became  the  Emperor  Ferdi- 
nand 11.^  Cosimo's  health  was  by  this  time 
rapidly  failing,  and  it  being  evident  that  he  had 
not  long  to  live,  he  made  a  will  by  which  on  his 
death  he  appointed  his  mother,  Christine,  and  his 
wife,  Maria  Maddalena,  joint  Regents  of  Tuscany 
during  the  minority  of  his  eldest  son,  then  ten 
years  old.  Cosimo  died  on  the  28th  February 
1620,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  much  regretted  by  the 
people,  after  a  reign  of  eleven  years.  He  left  eight 
children,  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  had 
an  exceedingly  magnificent  funeral,  being  buried  at 
first  in  the  New  Sacristy  pending  the  completion 
of  the  family  mausoleum,  to  which  his  remains 
were,  two  generations  later,  removed.^ 

1  See  chap,  xxviii.  p.  394. 

2  The  Emperor  Rudolph  II.,  son  of  Maximilian  II.,  died  in  1612, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Matthias,  who  died  in  1619. 
Ferdinand  II.  was  their  first  cousin,  the  son  of  the  Archduke  Charles, 
who  was  the  brother  of  Maximilian  II. 

^  The  bronze  statue  over  his  tomb  (Plate  CIII.)  is  by  Tacca,  and 
is  a  splendid  piece  of  work.  The  bronze  under-robe  is  made  to  resemble 
gold,  while  the  upper  robe  is  made  to  resemble  dark  green  velvet. 
The  crown  and  jewelled  cushion  stolen  about  twenty-five  years  ago 
from  the  top  of  the  sarcophagus  have  recently  been  replaced  (1907). 
When  in  1857  the  Medici  coffins  were  opened  the  body  of  Cosimo  II. 
was  found  "  reduced  to  bones,  the  head  being  covered  with  three  hoods, 
one  of  silk,  one  of  oil-cloth,  and  one  of  velvet.     The  body  was  clothed 


XXVII.]  A    MISTAKEN  DATE  389 

Strangely  enough,  a  mistake  has  been  made 
with  regard  to  the  length  of  the  reigns  of  Cosimo  II. 
and  his  son  Ferdinand  II.,  the  former  being  always 
stated  to  have  reigned  twehe  years  and  the  latter 
forty-nine  years,  instead  of  eleven  years  and  fifty 
years  respectively,  as  was  actually  the  case.  This 
is  owing  to  a  mistake  as  to  the  date  of  the  death 
of  Cosimo  II.  which  has  been  stated  to  be  28th 
February  1621,  even  Napier  making  this  mistake 
and  so  stating  that  Cosimo  II.  reigned  for  twelve 
years  and  Ferdinand  II.  for  forty-nine  years. ^  But 
that  this  is  an  error  is  clearly  proved  by  tlie  report 
on  the  examination  of  the  coffins  in  1857  {see 
foot-note),  as  the  28th  February  1620  is  the  date 
found  on  the  leaden  plate  inside  Cosimo  II.'s  coffin, 
and  also  on  the  two  gold  medallions  discovered 
therein ;  which  latter  fact  is  conclusive.  It  may 
be  wondered  how  an  historian  like  Napier  could  be 
wrong  on  such  a  point ;  but  the  explanation  is  that 
Napier's  history  was  written  in  1847,  and  so 
before  the  opened  coffin  came  to  bear  its  silent 
testimony. 

ill  the  great  cloak  of  Grand  Master  of  the  Order  of  San  Stefano,  worn 
over  a  doublet  of  black  silk  richly  embroidered  in  black,  with  long 
hanging  sleeves,  and  a  collarette  of  lace  ;  the  leather  belt  was  fastened 
with  a  clasp  of  oxidised  iron  ;  black  Spanish  breeches,  black  silk 
stockings,  and  cloth  shoes.  Under  the  shoulders  were  found  two  gold 
medallions  which  had  escaped  tlie  greed  of  those  who  had  rifled  the 
coffin  ;  these  had  on  one  siile  his  likeness,  with  his  name  and  title 
written  round  it,  and  on  the  other  the  Medicean  balls,  surmounted 
with  the  crown  with  the  sceptre  passing  through  it,  and  the  motto 
Virtutis  froemia,  and  date  of  his  death,  28th  February  1(!20.  On 
the  breast  was  a  leaden  plate  with  the  inscription  'Cosimo  Medici  II., 
fourth  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  died  28th  February  1G20,  at  the  ago 
of  thirty.'  The  coffin  was  very  large,  but  entirely  broken,  and  rifled  of 
all  precious  things  except  the  two  gold  medallions,  which  had  slipped 
behind  the  shoulders.  The  remains  were  placed  in  a  new  coffin  and 
re-buried."  {Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici 
Maiuoleum.     1867.) 

^  See  Napier's  i^/oren^me  Histoni,  vol.  v.  pp.  393  and  421, 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

FERDINAND   II. 

i?ora  1610.     (Reigned  W20-'\G70.)    Vkd  W70. 

The  fifty  years'  reign  of  Ferdinand  II.  saw  a  long 
step  made  on  the  downward  path  on  which  the 
once  great  family  was  now  plainly  embarked  ;  and 
the  pace  of  that  descent,  which  had  been  slow  at 
first,  now  quickens.  Incipient  decay,  becoming 
more  and  more  pronounced,  is  the  keynote  of  the 
reign  of  Ferdinand  II.,  even  though  there  were 
still  many  things  done  which  were  worthy  of  the 
family's  best  days. 

Cosimo  II.'s  will  included  very  stringent  pro- 
visions to  ensure  that  the  government  should  be 
satisfactorily  carried  on  during  the  minority  of  his 
son.  While  it  laid  down  that  the  two  Grand 
Duchesses,  his  mother  and  his  wife,  were  to  be 
joint  Regents,  it  also  ruled  that  they  were  to  be 
assisted  by  a  council  of  four  Ministers,  who  were 
named.  The  salary  of  each  of  these  four  members 
of  the  council  was  limited  to  2,000  crowns.  No 
foreigner  of  any  sort  was  to  hold  any  office  of 
State,  or  even  of  domestic  service  in  the  court. 
No  resident  ambassador  from  any  country  was 
to  be  allowed  at  Florence,  those  of  France,  Spain, 
and  Austria  being  expressly  debarred.     All  private 

390 


CHAP.  XXVIII.]       COSTLY   EXTRAVAGANCE  391 

trade  by  the  Regents  was  prohibited.  And,  above 
all,  the  opening  of  Cosimo's  treasure-vaults  was 
absolutely  forbidden,  except  to  pay  the  marriage 
portion  of  a  princess,  or  to  give  public  aid  in  a 
time  of  national  calamity.  The  penalty  for  infring- 
ing these  conditions  was  deprivation  of  office  as 
his  children's  guardians.^  But  these  provisions, 
carefully  drawn  up  as  they  were,  only  served  to 
afford  an  example  of  how  easily  all  such  arrange- 
ments can  be  set  aside. 

The  Grand  Duchess  Christine  was  now  fifty- 
six,  while  her  daughter-in-law,  the  Grand  Duchess 
Maria  Maddalena,  was  thirty.  Both  were  excellent 
women ;  but  they  were  without  any  talent  for 
governing ;  they  were  still  less  endowed  with  the 
smallest  financial  ability ;  and  they  were  exces- 
sively fond  of  pomp  and  splendour.  Never  before 
had  such  gorgeous  magnificence  been  displayed 
by  the  court  as  now  ensued  under  their  rule. 
They  were  accompanied  on  all  occasions  by  a 
numerous  retinue  arrayed  in  the  richest  costumes,^ 
were  surrounded  by  every  accessory  which  could 
add  to  their  grandeur,  and  seem  to  have  con- 
sidered it  incumbent  on  them  to  make  as  splendid 
a  display  as  possible  in  order  to  maintain  in  proper 
style  the  importance  of  the  young  Grand  Duke 
for  whom  they  were  Regents.  Everything  was 
done  with  tlie  utmost  extravagance,  money  being 
spent  in  the  most  lavish  way  on  every  matter 
which   they   took    in    hand.     Added   to   this   the 

1  Diario  della  Cit/a  di  Firenze,  dall'anno  1613  Jino  all' anno  1635. 
State  Archives  of  Tuscany. 

-  We  arc  g-iven  ample  oi)j)ortuiiity  of  realisiiie:  how  niajxiiificeiit 
were  the  costumes  of  lioth  tlic  men  ami  the  ladies  wlio  took  part 
in  these  ass<;mhlics  from  tlie  numerous  portraits  belongiofr  to  tliis 
time  to  he  seen  in  the  lonjf  corridor  between  the  Lllizi  and 
Pitti  Galleries. 


392  FERDINAND    II.  [chap. 

Grand  Ducliess  Christine,  who  took  the  lead,  was 
intensely  bigoted,  and  ready  to  fall  an  easy  prey 
to  the  numerous  ecclesiastics  who  gathered  round 
her,  and  who  in  a  very  short  time  had  established 
a  strong  control  over  all  Tuscan  affairs ;  while 
every  order  emanating  from  Rome,  no  matter  how 
harmful  to  the  country  or  disastrous  to  the  fortunes 
of  the  family,  was  received  by  her  with  the  most 
abject  submission. 

The  results  were  those  to  be  expected  from 
such  conditions.  The  provisions  of  Cosimo's  will 
were  ignored ;  the  immense  treasure  which  he  had 
left,  and  ordered  not  to  be  drawn  upon  except 
in  case  of  public  emergency,  was  all  squandered 
during  the  eight  years'  regency  of  the  two 
Grand  Duchesses ;  want  of  administrative  talent 
and  subordination  to  priestly  influence  produced 
corruption  and  misgovernment  in  every  department 
of  public  aff'airs ;  and  under  this  state  of  things 
the  country  sank  more  and  more  into  a  condition 
of  poverty  and  misrule ;  while  the  only  persons 
who  profited  were  the  crowds  of  ecclesiastics,  and 
the  so-called  "  converts,"  each  of  whom  on  the 
recommendation  of  a  priest  received  a  pension 
from  the  Regents.  Sustermans'  portrait  of  the 
Grand  Duchess  Christine^  (who  was  primarily 
responsible  for  these  results)  shows  her  wearing 
the  heavy  black  dress,  widow's  cap,  and  immense 
black  veil  which  she  always  wore  after  her 
husband  Ferdinand  I.'s  death.  In  her  hand  she 
has  a  locket  with  his  likeness,  no  rings  on  her 
fingers,  and  no  other  ornament  except  a  large 
gold  cross. 

1  Plate  LXXX. 


PLATE    LXXX. 


A  tinari] 


TiiK  (;UAM>   m  <  iicss  (UHIstim:   at   iiir\ -iivk. 
\i\    Siistt'rmaiis. 

[Coniini  ilalln-i/.  Florence. 


IT.ATE  T>XXXr. 


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- 

THE    (JRAM)    DUCHESS    .MARIA    MAnPALENA, 
AS    REOENT    OF    TlSl  ANY. 


Ali»(ir< 


[Uffi^i  Gallery. 


XXVIII.]  MARIA    MADDALENA  393 

The  Grand  Duchess  Maria  Madda-       .,   . 

Mana 

lena  necessarily  took  only  a  secondary  Maddaiena 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Regency,  to  Austria. 
which  her  nomination  was  perhaps  in- 
tended mainly  as  a  formality,  it  being  recognised 
that  the  chief  power  would  rest  with  her  mother- 
in-law.  Being  left  at  her  husband  Cosimo's  death 
with  eight  small  children  all  below  the  age  of  ten, 
she  had,  in  bringing  them  up,  plenty  of  domestic 
cares  to  be  added  to  those  of  government  of  the 
country.  Besides  her  eldest  son  Ferdinand,  her 
other  children  were  Maria  Cristina  (twin  sister  to 
Ferdinand,  born  1610),  Giovanni  Carlo  (born  1611), 
Margherita  (born  1612),  Mattias  (born  1613), 
Francesco  (born  1614),  Anna  (born  1616),  and 
Leopold  (born  1617).  In  bringing  up  her  children 
the  Grand  Duchess  Maria  Maddaiena  showed  con- 
siderable sense,  for  her  sons  were  all  given  a  very 
high  class  of  education,  the  excellence  of  which 
they  demonstrated  in  their  after  lives ;  while  a 
broad-minded  policy  was  shown  in  the  fact  that 
notwithstanding  the  strong  ecclesiastical  influence 
which  pervaded  the  court  they  were  all  in  turn 
sent  to  be  taught  science  by  Galileo.  The  portrait 
of  Maria  Maddaiena  ^  shows  her  in  her  court  dress 
as  Regent,  M^ith  her  crown  by  her  side,  the  crown 
being  very  large  and  somewhat  different  from 
that  of  her  mother-in-law  (Plate  LXXI.).- 

Ferdinand,  tlie  eldest  son  of  Cosimo  II.,  was  a 
boy  of  a  thoroughly  good   disposition,  his  gentle 

^  Plate  LXXXI.  In  this  and  all  her  portraits  Maria  Maddaiena 
has  reddish  hair. 

^  Regarding  tlie  character  and  achievements  of  Maria  Maddaiena, 
see  also  pp.  401-403. 


394  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

and  affectionate  nature  being  conspicuous,  while 
his  constant  endeavour  when  he  grew  up  to 
secure  peace  in  Italy  caused  him  to  become  noted 
as  a  peacemaker.  But  he  had  one  fatal  flaw — 
a  want  of  strength  of  character ;  while  the  influ- 
ences by  which  his  grandmother's  subordination  to 
priestly  domination  caused  him  to  be  surrounded 
from  a  very  early  age  were  such  as  tended  to 
increase  this  defect.  His  portrait  by  Sustermans, 
in  the  Pitti  Gallery,  at  the  age  of  fourteen^ 
shows  him  wearing  armour,  but  he  did  not 
display  any  military  talents.  In  1623,  when  he 
was  thirteen,  his  young  aunt  Claudia  returned  to 
Florence  as  a  widow  of  nineteen  with  her  infant 
daughter,  Vittoria  della  Rovere,  and  Ferdinand 
was  forthwith  betrothed  to  this  child  in  order  to 
unite  the  Duchy  of  Urbino  (which  would  be 
her  inheritance  when  her  grandfather,  the  Duke 
of  Urbino,  died)  with  Tuscany.  The  document 
drawn  up  on  the  occasion  of  this  betrothal  specially 
laid  down  that  Vittoria's  dowry  was  to  be  the 
Duchy  of  Urbino,  which  was  to  be  incorporated 
with  Tuscany. 

Loss  of  ^^^  ^  ^^^  months  later  Pope  Gregory  XV., 
Urbino.  who  had  Succeeded  Paul  V.  in  1621,  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Urban  VIII.  (1623-1644), 
whose  main  endeavour  was  to  enrich  in  every 
way  his  family,  the  Barberini.  Urban  VIII. 
soon  after  becoming  Pope  put  forward  a  claim 
on  behalf  of  the  Church  to  the  state  of  Urbino 
whenever  its  aged  Duke,  Francesco  Maria  della 
Rovere  II.,  who   was   then   eighty  and  in  failing 

»  Plate    LXXXII. 


xxviii.]  LOSS  OF  URBINO  395 

health,  should  die,  claiming  that  it  would  then 
be  a  "  vacant  fief,"  and  as  such  would  belong 
to  the  States  of  the  Church.  This  claim  was 
the  more  outrageous  in  that  the  Duchy  of 
Urbino  not  only  belonged  to  the  child  Vittoria 
della  Rovere  as  her  grandfather's  sole  lieir,  but 
also,  supposing  she  was  to  be  set  aside  on  account 
of  being  a  girl,  it  then  devolved  upon  the  boy 
Ferdinand  himself.  AVhen  Christine  of  Lorraine 
was  betrothed  to  Ferdinand  I.,  Catherine  de' 
Medici  gave  her  as  lier  dowry  600,000  crowns, 
a  transfer  to  her  of  all  Catherine's  rights  in  the 
Medici  property  in  Florence,  and  also  of  the  latter's 
claim  on  the  Duchy  of  Urbino,  which  had  never 
been  annulled  even  when  Adrian  VI.  restored 
the  dukedom  to  Francesco  Maria  della  Rovere  I.^ 
Thus  Ferdinand  II.  claimed  Urbino  on  a  double 
ground.  First,  he  claimed  it  as  being  the  lawful 
property  of  his  betrothed  wife  Vittoria,  she  being 
the  only  child  of  the  Duke's  only  son,  and  not 
to  be  set  aside  by  a  Papal  "bull  of  investiture" 
limiting  the  succession  to  heirs  male  only,  seeing 
that  the  Dukes  of  Urbino  did  not  admit  that 
their  title  to  their  hereditary  Duchy  depended 
on  any  such  bull  of  investiture.  Secondly,  if 
Vittoria's  claim  was  set  aside,  then  Ferdinand 
claimed  Urbino  in  his  own  right  as  inherited  from 
Catherine  de'  JNIedici,  tlie  daughter  of  I^orenzo 
(Duke  of  Urbino) ;  on  the  ground  that  though 
the  Duchy  of  Urbino  had  been  given  back  by 
Adrian  VI.  to  Francesco  Maria  della  I{o\erc,  yet 
the  Medici  family  had  never  acquiesced  in  tliis 
transfer  of  Urbino  from  them  ;  this  being  witnessed 

^  See  vol.  i.  p.  430. 


396  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

to  by  the  fact  that  on  all  occasions  Clement  VII. 
had  styled  his  relative  Catherine  "  Duchess  of 
Urbino,"  and  that  she  was  even  so  styled  in 
her  formal  marriage  documents.  Moreover,  that 
this  fact  also  proved  that  there  was  at  that  time, 
at  all  events,  no  restriction  of  the  succession  to 
heirs  male  only.  He  therefore  maintained  that 
the  will  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  made  him, 
Ferdinand,  the  lawful  Duke  of  Urbino  supposing 
Vittoria's  claim  was  set  aside.  Nevertheless  the 
Papal  troops  were  marched  into  Urbino,  ready 
to  take  possession  of  it  the  moment  that  the 
octogenarian  Duke  should  breathe  his  last. 
All  that  the  Pope  would  concede  was  that 
Vittoria  should  inherit  the  movable  property  of 
the  Duke. 

„,    J.      In    1625,^  when   Ferdinand   was   fifteen, 

Claudia.        ^  '  ,  ' 

his  aunt  Claudia,^  then  twenty  -  one, 
married  again,  and  this  time  more  satisfactorily. 
She  was  inarried  at  Innsbruck  to  Leopold  V., 
Archduke  of  Tyrol,  the  brother  of  her  sister-in-law 
Maria  Maddalena  and  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
II.  Claudia's  home  henceforth  was  the  Schloss 
Amras,^  beautifully  situated  amidst  the  pine  woods 
and  waterfalls  on  the  lower  slope  of  the  mountains 
overlooking  Innsbruck,  but  with  its  small  rooms 
and  restricted  area  somewhat  of  a  change  from 
the  magnificent  Grand  Ducal  palace  of  Tuscany. 
Claudia  did  not  take  her  daughter  Vittoria  with 

1  It  was  in  this  year  that  in  England  Charles  I.  succeeded  his 
father,  James  I. 

2  Plate  LXXXIII. 

^  At  the  Schloss  Amras,  the  residence  of  the  Archdukes  of 
Tyrol,  Claudia  collected  round  her  many  portraits  of  her  family,  which 
are  still  to  be  seen  there. 


I'LATE  LXXXII. 


Alinari] 


KKDINAM)    II. 


:i.l)Ksr    SON     HI'    CdSlMM     II.,     A  I      I  HI    UII.KN. 

I'>\'  Sii>tt'i-iii;in^. 


[Pi'Ui  GuUn-y. 


PLATE   LXXXIH. 


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CLAiniA    Dk'    MEDICI,    nAlGHTER    OF    FERDIXANn    I., 
ARCHDrOHESS    OF    THE    TYROL. 

By  Susterman?. 


lUfi;i  Galhri). 


XXVIII.]  CLAUDIA  397 

her  to  Innsbruck,  but  as  the  latter  was  betrothed 
to  Ferdinand  left  her  at  Florence  in  charge  of 
her  own  sister  Maddalena,  in  the  convent  of 
the  Crocetta,  where  Vittoria  was  brought  up  until 
she  was  fourteen.  By  her  second  marriage  Claudia 
had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  When  in  1632 
her  husband  Leopold  died,  she  was  appointed 
Regent  of  Tyrol  on  behalf  of  her  young  son,  and 
ruled  that  country  well  during  the  most  difficult 
time  in  its  history,  showing  herself  a  woman  of 
much  ability.  She  was  Regent  from  1632  to  1646, 
and  not  only  greatly  improved  the  administration 
and  resources  of  Tyrol,  but  also  by  her  wisdom  and 
watchful  care  over  the  defences  of  the  country  she 
saved  it  from  being  drawn  into  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  in  which  all  the  rest  of  the  German  empire  was 
involved.  In  the  museum  at  Innsbruck  is  to  be  seen 
a  large  picture  depicting  her  sitting  on  her  throne 
presiding  at  a  meeting  of  the  Landstag  on  the  occa- 
sion of  an  urgent  national  crisis.  Her  eldest  son, 
Ferdinand  Karl,  married  his  first  cousin,  Anna  de' 
Medici.^  Claudia's  fine  portrait  by  Sustermans  in 
the  Uffizi  Gallery  shows  her  as  she  was  at  the  age 
of  thirty ;  in  her  dress  there  is  an  absence  of 
the  excessive  ornament  then  so  much  in  fashion ; 
she  has  also  dropped  the  high  "  Medici "  collar, 
and  wears  a  small  plain  one.  In  the  corridor 
between  the  Uffizi  and  Pitti  Galleries  there  is 
also  a  fine  portrait  of  her  husband,  the  Archduke 
Leopold,  dressed  in  a  tunic  of  yellow  leather  nmch 
embroidered,  long  yellow  leather  boots  reaching  to 
the  thigh,  a  wide  sash  round  the  waist  to  keep  his 
sword  in  its  place,  and  by  his  side  his  helmet  with 

'/See  p.  422. 


398  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

a  huge  plume  of  blue  and  white  ostrich  feathers, 
which,  since  the  whole  structure  represents  a  height 
of  about  three  feet,  must  have  been  highly  incon- 
venient when  riding. 

Tn  1627,  Ferdinand,  being  then  seventeen,  was 
sent  on  a  tour  to  see  something  of  the  world  before 
beginning  to  rule  on  his  own  account.  He  went 
first  to  Rome,  but  there  the  numerous  Barberini 
family,  full  of  pride,  and  hating  the  Medici  owing 
to  the  opposition  they  had  experienced  on  their 
behalf  in  the  matter  of  Urbino,  behaved  towards 
him  with  great  insolence,  and  he  departed  thence  to 
Vienna  to  visit  his  uncle,  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
II.,  where,  with  the  love  of  peace  which  was  his 
characteristic,  he  made  an  endeavour  to  bring  to 
an  end  the  dispute  taking  place  over  the  succession 
to  the  Duchy  of  Mantua ;  in  which,  however,  he 
was  unsuccessful.  In  1628  he  returned  home,  and 
took  over  charge  of  the  government ;  but  his  feel- 
ing for  his  mother  and  grandmother  would  not 
allow  him  entirely  to  deprive  them  of  authority ; 
so  that  they  continued  to  exercise  a  considerable 
influence  in  the  government.  Shortly  after  his 
return  his  second  sister,  Margherita,^  then  seven- 
teen, was  married  to  Eduardo  Farnese,  Duke  of 
Parma.^  This  marriage  strengthened  the  position 
of  Tuscany  in  the  politics  of  Italy,  constantly 
troubled  as  these  were  by  Urban  VIII.,  Parma 
and  Tuscany  becoming  allies  ;  while  it  was  also  of 
considerable  importance   in   its    consequences  two 

1  Plate  LXXXIV  (p.  410).     For  list  of  Ferdinand's  brothers  and 
sisters,  set  Appendix  XIII. 

2  There  is  a  portrait  of  Margherita's  husband^  Eduardo  Farnese, 
Duke  of  Parma^  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery. 


XXVIII.]  EPIDEMIC   OF  PLAGUE  399 

generations  later  when,  the  throne  of  Tuscany 
threatening  to  become  vacant  owing  to  Cosimo 
III.  having  no  grandchildren,  it  was  held  that 
after  the  demise  of  Cosimo's  daughter  the  rightful 
lieirs  to  that  throne  were  Margherita's  descendants 
belonging  to  the  house  of  Parma.  ^ 

In  the  following  year  the  quarrel-  over  the 
succession  to  Mantua  caused  Richelieu,  tlie  all- 
powerful  Minister  of  France,  to  send  a  French 
army  across  the  Alps  which  occupied  Susa,  while 
the  Austrian  army  seized  IVIantua ;  but  the  conflict 
did  not  spread  into  Tuscany,  though  the  latter 
state  had  to  mobilise  its  whole  military  strength 
and  remain  in  a  state  of  preparedness  for  war.  Soon 
afterwards  Florence  suffered  from  an  outbreak  of 
the  plague,  which  raged  with  great  violence  for 
many  months,  and  plunged  the  city  into  the  utmost 
misery.  In  this  time  of  distress  the  measures 
taken  by  Ferdinand  were  worthy  of  his  ancestors, 
the  earlier  Medici.  Money  and  provisions  were 
liberally  distributed  to  the  poor,  150,000  ducats 
being  given  to  those  of  the  wool  and  silk  trades 
alone ;  and  Rondinelli,  who  was  an  eye  -  witness, 
says  that  all  that  was  done  was  wisely  directed, 
"not  in  mere  donations,  but  also  in  useful  works 
and  agricultural  labours."  ^  Lazzarettos  were  organ- 
ised, and  a  general  quarantine  established  ;  the  court 
retired  into  the  fortress  of  the  Belvedere,  which, 
occupying  a  high  eminence,  enjoyed  fresher  air 
than  the  Grand  Ducal  palace  at  the  foot  of  the  hill; 
but  Ferdinand  and  his  young  brothers,  Gio\anni 
Carlo,  Mattias,  and  Francesco,  "  nobly  disdaining 

•  See  chap.  xxix.  pp.  480  and  481 . 

^  Jielazione  del  Contagione  delC  anni  1630  e  1633,  \\\  Kundiiiolli. 


400  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

this  shelter  while  the  people  were  perishing,  went 
daily  into  the  city,  and  with  hand  and  voice 
administered  comfort  to  the  sufferers."^  The 
pestilence  raged  for  thirteen  dismal  months,  during 
which  time  in  and  around  the  city  twelve  thousand 
people  died.  Ferdinand  established  a  Board  of 
Health,  and  this  body  issued  many  wise  regula- 
tions, while  they  also  forced  the  inmates  of  the 
immense  number  of  monasteries  and  convents  with 
which  the  city  was  crowded  both  to  obey  sanitary 
rules,  and  also  to  bear  their  share  in  receiving 
and  helping  those  who  were  convalescent.  But 
Ferdinand's  sound  sanitary  regulations  were  de- 
nounced by  the  priests  as  impious ;  the  Pope 
demanded  that  the  Board  of  Health  should  be 
censured,  and  required  that  a  severe  penance  should 
be  exacted  from  its  members ;  and  Ferdinand, 
unable  to  resist  the  pressure  of  his  bigoted  grand- 
mother, was  forced,  notwithstanding  his  own  and 
the  general  indignation,  to  comply  with  these 
arbitrary  demands ;  with  the  result  that  the  Board 
of  Health  was  made  to  do  penance  for  having 
adopted  measures  which  were  in  every  way  right 
and  desirable. 

In  1631  the  war-cloud  departed  from  Italy  to 
spread  instead  over  Germany.  Richelieu  brought 
the  celebrated  Gustavus  Adolphus,  King,  of 
Sweden,  into  the  contest,  and  the  latter  ran  his 
short  but  brilliant  course  of  victory.  Ferdinand's 
two  brothers,  Mattias  and  Francesco  (then  respec- 
tively eighteen  and  seventeen),  were  both  eager 
to  take  part  in  the  great  events  occurring  north 

^  Relazione  del  Contagions  delf  anni  1630  e  1633,  by  Rondinelli. 
Francesco  himself  died  of  the  plague  five  years  afterwards. 


xxviii]       DEATH    OF   MARIA    MADDxVLENA  401 

of  the  Alps ;  and  the  Grand  Duchess  Maria 
Maddalena  being  also  anxious  to  visit  her  brother 
the  Emperor,  in  order  to  see  whether  he  could 
not  assist  to  prevent  the  Pope  from  seizing  Urbino 
when  its  Duke  should  die,  accompanied  her  sons 
Mattias  and  Francesco  on  this  journey.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  she  fell  ill  on  the  way,  and 
died  at  Passau  in  November,  her  body  being 
brought  back  to  Florence  by  her  two  sons,  and 
buried  in  San  Lorenzo.^ 

And  so  passes  away  another  of  this  family  who 
deserves  an  honourable  record.  As  a  young  wife 
Maria  ^laddalena,  high  born,  virtuous,  sensible, 
and  charming  in  character  and  manners,  had  come 
to  Florence  bringing  brightness,  joy,  and  anima- 
tion w4th  her,  had  helped  to  keep  the  life  of 
the  court  free  from  scandals,  and  with  her  accom- 
plished sisters-in-law  had  made  the  Grand  Ducal 
palace  and  her  villa  of  Poggio  Imperiale  centres  of 
joyous  social  amusement  and  relaxation.  When 
her  husband's  health  failed  she  had  proved  herself 
an  efficient  helpmeet  to  him,  bearing  alone  the 
burden  of  the  court  entertainments  which  he 
wished  still  to  be  kept  up,  showing  herself  able 
to  give  him  helpful  advice,  and  in  every  way 
smoothing  his  life  as  an  invalid.  Lastly,  when  he 
died  and  she  was  left  as  Regent  of  the  country 
and  at  the  same  time  a  young  mother  with  a  large 
family  of  small  children,  she  showed  herself  "ifted 

^  She  is  buried  in  tlie  family  niausok'uiu.  AV'lieii  her  coffin  was 
opened  in  1857  tin-  l)ody  was  found  clothed  in  black  velvet  and  reduced 
to  bones.  On  her  coHin  was  a  leaden  plate  bearinjy^  lier.  name  and 
titles,  and  a  long  insciiption  detailing-  witliout  exaggeration  lier  many 
virtues.  On  the  breast,  liung  round  the  neck  by  a  cliain,  wa.s  a  irold 
medallion  bearing  her  portr.iit  and  name,  and  on  the  reverse  a  bird  of 
Paradise  in  flight  and  tlie  motto  Ethera. 

VOL.    II.  2  c 


^i  FERDINAND    II.  [chap. 

with  sound  sense  and  courage  in  the  manner  she 
brought  them  up  despite  the  narrow  -  minded 
tendencies  by  w^hich  she  was  surrounded.  And 
however  much  she  may  have  been  wanting  in 
administrative  and  financial  abihty,  she  deserves 
high  praise  for  this  other  portion  of  her  work. 
Every  one  of  her  five  sons  showed  in  their  after 
fives  the  effects  of  a  good  bringing  up  and  of  a  large- 
minded  tolerant  spirit  learnt  in  their  early  years  ; 
and  while  her  son  Francesco  died  too  soon  to 
evince  any  special  abifity,  her  other  four  sons  all 
made  themselves  greatly  distinguished  not  only  by 
their  good  qualities  of  character  but  also  by  their 
high  attainments.  Her  daughter  Maria  Cristina 
died  at  twenty-two,  but  her  other  two  daughters, 
Margherita  and  Anna,  both  showed  in  after  years 
good  qualities  and  marked  ability.  When  at  the 
age  of  forty  Maria  INIaddalena  died,  her  son 
Ferdinand  and  his  sister  Maria  Cristina  were 
twenty  -  one,  her  sons  Giovanni  Carlo,  Mattias, 
Francesco,  and  Leopold  were  respectively  twenty, 
eighteen,  seventeen,  and  fourteen,  her  daughter 
Margherita  was  nineteen,  and  her  daughter  Anna 
fifteen  years  old.  As  in  the  Boboli  gardens  one 
sits  in  the  long  pei'gola  (now  so  empty  and 
deserted)  which  is  always  associated  with  her 
memory,  it  inevitably  arouses  a  vision  of  the  past 
as  one  is  drawn  to  think  of  how  different  it  must 
have  looked  in  Maria  Maddalena's  day,  when 
thronged  with  the  gay  crowd  of  young  people 
whom  she  and  her  two  elder  sisters-in-law  gathered 
round  them  in  the  first  years  after  her  marriage, 
or  later  on  with  the  brilliant  embroideries  and 
brocades  of  the  gorgeously  dressed  retinue  (pictured 


xxvni.]  ENMITY   OF   URBAN    VIII.  403 

for  us  in  the  gallery  hard  by)  who  followed  her  in 
the  days  of  her  Regency,  or  again  with  the  joyous 
groups  of  her  young  sons  and  daughters  and  their 
numerous  companions  who  surrounded  her  in  the 
last  few  years  of  her  life. 

Their  mother's  funeral  being  over,  Mattias  and 
Francesco  again  prepared  to  proceed  northwards, 
and  as  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  threatening  to 
cross  the  Alps  and  bring  the  war  into  Italy,  these 
two  brothers  in  1632  started  from  Florence  with 
money,  arms,  and  two  regiments  supplied  by 
Tuscany  to  assist  against  him,  and  to  learn  war 
in  Germany  under  the  great  Wallenstein.  Soon 
afterwards,  however,  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs 
was  changed  by  the  battle  of  Lutzen  in  No^•ember 
1632,  at  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed,  and 
Richelieu's  pride  for  a  time  humbled.  In  tliis 
same  year  Ferdinand's  twin  sister  Maria  Cristina 
died  in  August,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  at  the 
villa  of  Poggio  Imperiale,  the  favourite  residence 
of  this  generation  of  the  ftimily.^ 

Meanwhile  Francesco  della  Rovere  II.,  Duke 
of  Urbino,  at  length  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-two. 
The  Papal  troops  at  once  took  possession  of  Urbino, 
almost  before  the  breath  was  out  of  his  body ; 
while  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  w^as  too  much 
occupied  with  the  war  in  Germany  to  be  able  to 
take  up  the  cudgels  on  his  nephew's  behalf  and 
prevent  this  seizure  of  Urbino,  as  he  otherwise 
would  have  done ;  and  Ferdinand,  feeling  himself 

'  She  is  buried  in  the  family  niausoleuin.  Slie  was  evidently 
huiied  splendidly  dressed  and  ailorned  with  many  jewels,  for  when  in 
IBoT  the  Mediei  cotHns  were  examined  hers  was  found  to  have  i)eeu 
entirely  rided  by  thieves,  and  only  a  garland  of  artilicial  Mowers  round 
her  head  remained^  even  her  dress  being-  torn  to  pieces. 


404  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

unable  to  resist  a  Pope  without  assistance,  and 
hampered  by  his  grandmother's  opposition  to 
such  a  course,  as  being  sacrilege,  had  to  acquiesce 
in  seeing  his  and  his  future  wife's  inheritance 
robbed  from  them.  The  matter  created  much 
bad  blood  between  the  Barberini  and  Medici 
families;  Cosimo  11. 's  brother  Lorenzo  made  strong 
endeavours  to  get  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  ^  to  oppose 
the  Pope's  action,  but  his  efforts  were  unsuccess- 
ful, and  only  recoiled  upon  himself.^  The  general 
result  of  the  whole  affair  was  that  Pope  Urban  VIII. 
nourished  an  undying  hatred  against  the  Medici 
throughout  his  pontificate,  thwarting  them  on 
all  occasions,  making  every  priest  and  monk  in 
Tuscany  an  enemy  of  the  Government,  and  creating 
incessant  difficulties  in  the  administration  of  a 
country  in  which  priestly  influence  was  supreme ; 
while  by  the  weakness  which  Tuscany  had  dis- 
played over  this  question  of  Urbino  it  lost  all 
weight  in  Eiu'opean  politics.  It  was  a  difficult 
position  for  a  youth  of  twenty-two  to  have  to 
confront ;  and  though  a  Cosimo  I.  would  have 
met  it  and  overcome  the  difficulties  (no  doubt 
with  much  bloodshed),  Ferdinand  II.  was  not  cast 
in  so  strong  a  mould. 

„  ,.,    ,  ^      It  was   not  long  before  Urban   VIII. 

Galileo  (2).       .  ,  ^   ,.  4.-  1  •  1 

found  a  means  of  venting  his  spleen 
upon  Ferdinand,  and  in  a  manner  which  has  had 
the  effect  of  bringing  a  lasting  slur  upon  the  reign 
of  the  latter.  Galileo,  since  his  achievements  in  the 
first  year  of  Cosimo  II.'s  reign,  had  during  the  years 

1  Philip  IV.  had  succeeded  his  father,  Philip  HI.,  i"  l^J^l- 
^  See  p.  425. 


xxviii]  GALILEO   ARRAIGNED  405 

1609-1032  made  many  and  marvellous  astronomical 
discoveries,  in  the  course  of  which  he  had  had  to 
carry  on  a  perpetual  contest  with  the  Jesuits,  who 
endeavoured  in  every  way  to  silence  him.  In 
1611^  he  had  visited  Rome,  had  demonstrated  his 
various  discoveries  to  Pope  Paul  V.,  and  been  well 
received  by  the  latter.  Returning  to  Florence,  and 
publishing  more  and  more  astronomical  wonders, 
he  was  in  1616  summoned  by  Paul  V.  to  Rome, 
where  his  stateinent  that  the  earth  revoh  ed  round 
the  sun  was  condemned  by  the  Inquisition ;  where- 
upon he  ostensibly  acquiesced  in  the  falseness  of 
his  theory,"  and  promised  not  to  republish  this 
doctrine.  During  the  next  seventeen  years  (1616- 
1633)  Galileo,  though  still  attacked  by  the  theo- 
logians, had  lived  more  or  less  at  peace  under  the 
segis  of  the  Grand  Duke,  going  again  to  Rome 
in  1624,  and  being  received  there  with  honour  by 
the  new  Pope,  Urban  VIII.  He  again  went  to 
Rome  in  1630,  on  which  occasion  he  received  a 
"  caution  "  to  make  his  books  purely  mathematical 
and  not  doctrinal,  and  with  this  caution  was 
allowed  to  publish  them.  In  1632  he  published  his 
Dialogues.  By  this  time,  however,  the  affair  of 
Urbino  had  occurred,  the  Pope  was  incensed  with 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  the  weakness  of 
the  latter  had  been  fully  displayed.  Galileo  was 
therefore  in  1633  charged  with  having  gone  back 
from  his  promise  of  1616,  and  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  Inquisition  in  Rome,  to  answer  for  his 
writings  which,  in  maintaining  the  fixed  position 

^  It  was  ill  this  year  tliat  Galileo  discovored  the  rings  of  the  planet 
Saturn. 

^  As  he  rose  from  his  knees  Galileo  is  said  to  have  whispered  to  a 
friend  "  Eppur  si  miiove"  ("  Nevertheless  it  does  move"). 


406  FERDINAND   II.  [™ap. 

of  the  sun  and  the  movement  of  the  earth  round 
it,  propounded  a  doctrine  which  was  declared  by 
the  Pope  to  be  in  flat  contradiction  to  the  Bible. 
The  causes  for  this  arraignment  of  Galileo  are 
said  to  have  been  twofold,  the  bitter  animosity 
of  the  Jesuits  against  all  genuine  philosophy,  and 
the  enmity  of  the  Pope  against  the  Medici,  whose 
special  protege  Galileo  had  been  for  more  than 
twenty  years. 

Accordingly  commissioners  were  sent  from 
Rome  with  orders  to  conduct  Galileo^  thither, 
notwithstanding  that  he  pleaded  illness ;  and 
Ferdinand  II.  and  his  grandmother,  the  Grand 
Duchess  Christine,  stood  far  too  much  in  awe  of 
priestly  condemnation  to  think  of  offering  any 
opposition  to  this  arbitrary  proceeding.  At  Rome 
Galileo,  now  seventy  years  old  and  broken  in 
health,  was  threatened  with  torture  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion ;  his  theories  were  formally  condemned,  he 
was  made  to  recant  on  his  knees  his  so-called 
errors,  and  especially  to  declare  his  doctrine  as  to 
the  movement  of  the  earth  false,  and  was  kept  a 
prisoner  until  the  Pope's  will  regarding  him  should 
be  made  known.  Ferdinand  II.  has  received 
much  execration  for  having  permitted  the  Pope 
thus  to  treat  Galileo.  For  Ferdinand's  weakness 
there  is  nothing  to  be  said,  but  it  would  seem  that 
the  blame  cast  upon  him  in  the  matter  has  been 
excessive,  and  that  it  has  not  been  sufficiently 
realised  that  he  was  still  to  a  very  large  extent 
under   the   domination    of    his   grandmother,    the 

'  There  is  a  good  portrait  of  Galileo  by  Sustermans  in  the  Uffizi 
Gallery.  It  was  presented  to  the  gallery  by  Ferdinand's  brother. 
Prince  Leopold,  who  was  one  of  Galileo's  most  promising  pupils. 


xxviii]  THE   SILENCING   OF   GALILEO  407 

Grand  Duchess  Christine,  especially  in  a  matter 
which  touched  rehgion,  and  that  he  had  been 
brought  up  to  consider  opposition  to  a  Pope's 
direct  command  as  a  deadly  sin  which  nothing 
could  excuse.  He  must  have  changed  his  nature 
before  he  could  have  withstood  a  Pope's  condemna- 
tion on  a  point  of  this  kind. 

Galileo  having  thus  recanted  his  "  errors  "  was 
condemned  by  the  Inquisition  to  perpetual  im- 
prisonment, but  the  Pope  commuted  the  sentence 
to  residence  in  retirement  in  the  gardens  of  S.S. 
Trinita  al  JNIonte,  and  after  a  short  time  there  he 
was  allowed  to  remove  to  Florence,  where  after 
residing  for  a  little  space  under  the  personal  charge 
of  the  Archbishop  he  was  permitted,  though  still 
a  prisoner  of  the  Inquisition,  to  move  to  his  villa 
at  Arcetri  on  condition  that  he  lived  in  retirement 
and  received  no  visitors ;  but  he  never  published 
anything  more.  In  1634<  he  lost  his  only  daughter, 
a  nun,  Maria  Celeste,  who  had  been  his  chief 
comfort  in  his  troubles;  and  in  1637  was  allowed 
by  the  Inquisition  to  move  to  his  house  in  the 
Costa  San  Giorgio,^  but  on  condition  that  he  did 
not  go  out  into  the  city.  There  Ferdinand,  who 
had  been  his  pupil  as  a  boy  (and  who  had  been 
aimed  at  by  the  Pope  together  with  him),  visited 
the  old  man  and  condoled  with  him  on  the  unjust 
treatment  he  had  received.'  Galileo  soon  after- 
wards became  blind,  and  when  Milton  visited  him 

'  There  is  a  likeness  of  liiin  painted  in  fresco  on  the  front  of  the 
house. 

'■^  A  tahlet  over  the  door,  put  up  by  a  subsequent  generation,  states 
in  grandiloquent  langua^'-e  that  here  the  majesty  of  the  Grand  Duke 
did  not  disdain  to  do  honour  to  the  glory  of  Science  in  the  person  of 
Galileo. 


408  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

in  16.38  was  no  longer  able  to  see  anything  more 
of  those  wonders  of  the  heavens  which  he  had 
explored.  He  retired  again  to  Arcetri,  and  con- 
secrated to  science  the  last  remains  of  his  energies, 
with  a  heart  full  of  remembrance  of  his  beloved 
daughter,  "  who,"  he  wrote,  "  calls  me,  calls  me 
continually ;  while  I  wait  to  change  my  present 
prison  for  that  community  august  and  eternal." 
But  he  was  comforted,  he  said,  with  two  thoughts, 
"  that  I  have  not  ever  declined  from  piety  and 
reverence  for  the  Church,  and  my  own  conscience." 
He  died  at  Arcetri  in  January  1642  without  any 
enmity  against  those  who  had  spoilt  his  life.^ 

Ferdinand  was  anxious  to  erect  a  monument  to 
him,  but  the  Jesuits  opposed  this,  and  as  usual 
prevailed,  and  Ferdinand  had  to  content  himself 
with  giving  Galileo  burial  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Medici  family  in  the  church  of  Santa  Croce.  It  is, 
however,  pleasant  to  record  that  this  wrong  done 
by  the  Jesuits  to  Galileo's  memory  was  rectified 
by  the  Medici  ere  they  passed  away ;  and  the  very 
last  year  of  their  rule  was  signalised  by  the  deserved 
honour  to  Galileo  being  at  last  given,  by  the  erec- 
tion in  1737  in  the  nave  of  Santa  Croce  of  the  fine 
monument  to  him,  his  remains  being  removed  to 
it  from  the  chapel  of  the  Medici.  Dean  Stanley 
says  that  it  was  from  the  burial  of  Galileo  and 
ISIichelangelo  in  this  church  that  Santa  Croce 
gradually  became  the  recognised  shrine  of  Italian 
genius  ; "  while  Byron,  in  enumerating  those  whose 

^  Galileo's  great  successor,  Newton,  was  born  in  the  same  year  that 
Galileo  died. 

^  It  is  fitting  that  Florence,  "the  home  of  all  who  live  hy  thought," 
should  be  the  city  to  hold  that  shrine, 


xxvm.]  GALILEO'S   MONUMENT  409 

dust  makes  Santa  Croce  glorious,^  makes  special 
mention  of  Galileo  : — 

"  In  Santa  Croce's  holy  precincts  lie 
Ashes  which  make  it  holier,  dust  which  is 
Even  in  itself  an  ininiortahty, 

Though  there  were  nothing  save  the  past,  and  this, 
The  particle  of  those  sublimities 
Which  have  relapsed  to  chaos  : — here  repose 
Angelo's,  Alficri's,  bones,  and  his 
The  starry  Galileo,  with  his  woes." 

In  1633  (the  year  that  Galileo  was  summoned 
to  Home)  the  plague  again  broke  out  in  Florence  ; 
and  this  time  there  was  no  Board  of  Health,  former 
experience  having  very  effectually  put  a  stop  to 
any  further  action  of  that  kind.  Instead,  there- 
fore, of  wise  sanitary  measures  superstition  reigned 
supreme,  accompanied  by  religious  ceremonies 
which  in  puerility  and  intellectual  abasement  sur- 
passed everything  previously  seen.  The  Madonna 
deW  Impruneta  was  brought  to  Florence  and 
carried  through  the  streets,  "  followed  by  crowds 
whose  contact  gave  fresh  vigour  to  the  pestilence  "  ; 
and  for  many  months  Florence  again  became  a 
city  of  mourning. 

In  1G34,  V^ittoria  della  Rovere  being  now  four- 
teen, the  marriage  between  her  and  Ferdinand  took 
place.  Brought  up  in  the  seclusion  of  the  convent 
of  the  Crocetta,  Vittoria  to  a  naturally  frivolous 
disposition  added  an  entire  ignorance  of  all  the 
circumstances  of  ordinary  life,  together  with  "  a 
most  profound  admiration  for  everything  connected 

'  ''The  chuivli  of  Santn  Croce  would  disappoint  you  as  mucli  inside 
as  out  if  the  presence  of  ji^reat  men  did  not  always  east  a  niinjifled 
shadow  of  tlie  awful  and  tiie  beautiful  over  our  thoughts  "  (Leigli  Hunt). 


410  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

with  the  Church."  It  was  easy,  therefore,  to  see 
that  she  was  not  the  sort  of  person  hkely  to  be  of 
much  assistance  to  Ferdinand  in  the  difficulties 
which  surrounded  him  through  the  dominance  of 
the  Jesuits  and  other  ecclesiastical  orders  over  the 
country.  She  brought  with  her  as  her  dowry 
the  movable  property  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  and 
this  added  many  valuable  pictures  to  those  already 
possessed  by  the  Medici.  In  the  Uffizi  Gallery  the 
portrait  by  Piero  della  Francesca  of  Federigo  di 
Montefeltro,  Duke  of  Urbino,  and  his  Duchess,  of 
Pope  Julius  II.  by  Raphael,  of  Francesco  della 
Rovere  I.  and  Eleonora  Gonzaga  by  Titian,  the 
two  pictures  of  the  Reclining  Venus  by  Titian, 
and  the  portrait  of  Francesco  della  Rovere  II. 
by  Baroccio  ;  and  in  the  Pitti  Gallery  the  portrait 
of  Guidobaldo  della  Rovere  II.  (Vittoria's  grand- 
father) by  Zuccheri,  the  Magdalen  by  Titian,  L,a 
Sella  by  Titian,  the  portrait  called  the  Englishman 
by  Titian,  and  the  Martyrdom  of  St  Agatha  by 
Sebastian  del  Piombo,  besides  many  others  of  lesser 
note,  all  formed  part  of  Vittoria's  dowry,  which 
also  included  a  valuable  collection  of  majolica  and 
Urbino-ware,  most  of  which  now  forms  part  of 
the  treasures  of  the  museum  of  the  Bargello. 
This  marriage  was  shortly  afterwards  followed  by 
the  death,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  of  Ferdinand's 
manly  young  brother  Francesco,  who  died,  greatly 
regretted  by  all,  in  the  camp  of  the  Imperial  army 
before  Ratisbon,  of  the  plague.  His  portrait  ^  by 
Sustermans,  which  hangs  in  one  of  the  rooms  of 
the  villa  of  Poggio  a  Caiano,  shows  him  as  he 
was  at  eighteen.     He  wears   armour,  but   it   has 

"■  Plate  LXXXV. 


IT.ATE  I.XXXIV. 


^lAKiillKKlIA     1)K      MKI>I(  I.     I).\I<;IITKH     (»K    (OSIMU     H..     I>r(lli:ss    (IK     I'AHMA. 

liy  Siistermaiis. 
Jh-ogi]  Villa  of  I'oggio  a  Cn.'aiio, 


]>I,AT10   I.XXXV. 


Brogi] 


FRANCESCO,     FOIRTH    SOX    OK    COJ^IMO     II. 

By  Sustermaiis. 

[  Villa  of  Pogglo  a  Caiano. 


XXVIII.]   DEATH  OF  CHRISTINE  OF  LORRAINE    411 

only  to  be  compared  with  that  of  his  ancestor 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere^  to  see  that  armour 
is  by  this  time  no  longer  worn  for  use,  but  merely 
for  show.  And  the  large  lace  collar,  the  lace  cuffs, 
and  the  sash,  not  worn  round  the  waist  as  hitherto, 
but  over  the  shoulder,  all  tell  the  same  tale. 

In  IG36  Ferdinand,  ashamed  of  the  many 
liumiliations  he  suffered  from  the  subordination  of 
the  whole  country  to  the  Jesuits,  and  at  the  state 
of  misgovernment  to  which  it  had  thereby  been 
reduced,  had  just  resolved  to  emancipate  himself 
from  the  Grand  Duchess  Christine's  authority  and 
to  rule  independently,  when  in  December  of  that 
year  she  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.^  Excellent 
as  she  was  as  the  mother  of  a  family,  and  in 
the  social  sphere,  she  was  hopelessly  incapable  of 
ruling ;  and  the  country  never  recovered  from  the 
effect  of  the  clause  of  Cosimo  II.'s  will  which 
entailed  upon  it  sixteen  years  of  the  rule  of  a 
woman  utterly  unfitted  for  such  a  task.  When 
she  died  Tuscany  had  become  almost  more  under 
the  domination  of  the  ecclesiastics  than  Rome 
itself;  clerics  of  every  kind  and  degree  swarmed 
throughout  the  country ;  nearly  every  office  was  in 
their  power;  they  treated  the  Grand  Duke's  officials 
with  insolence,  telling  them  that  they  would  obey 
no  laws  and  pay  no  taxes   but  such  as  had  the 

'  Plate  XLVII. 

•^  She  is  buried  in  the  fomily  inausohium.  When  her  coffin  was 
opened  in  1B57  "the  body  was  found  clotiied  in  a  dross  of  j»lain  bl-icit 
cloth  covered  with  a  very  large  black  veil^  and  completely  wra]>ped  in 
a  black  silk  sheet.  On  the  feet  were  slioes  with  immensely  tliick  cork 
soleSj  two  fingers  thick.  On  the  breast  was  a  gold  medallion  witli  a 
triple  chain,  bearing  on  one  side  a  portrait  of  lier  husband,  Ferdinand  I. , 
and  on  the  other  lier  own  portrait  and  name."  {()fficiu/  Heport  on  the 
examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  MuuKo/eum.     1857.) 


412  FERDINAND    II.  TcnAP. 

authority  of  the  Pope  ;  most  of  the  property  of 
the  country  was  owned  by  monastic  orders,  and 
therefore  exempt  from  taxation ;  there  were  over 
four  thousand  nuns  in  Florence  alone ;  the  people 
were  crushed  by  taxation  borne  by  only  a  portion 
of  the  population ;  trade  and  agriculture  were 
languishing ;  and  licentiousness,  crime,  and  ferocity 
(going  unpunished  for  lack  of  the  strong  hand), 
were  rampant.  The  Inquisition  held  its  gloomy 
court  in  the  cloisters  of  Santa  Croce,  the  most 
dreaded  place  in  Florence,  whither  all  who  did  not 
please  the  Jesuits  were  likely  sooner  or  later  to 
find  themselves  summoned.  Torture,  confiscations, 
and  penalties,  under  the  orders  of  the  "  Holy 
Office,"  became  common  things  to  the  Florentines  ; 
and  the  dismal  pomp  of  the  horrible  Auto-da-fe 
threw  its  lurid  glare  over  that  Piazza  Santa  Croce 
which  once  had  shone  with  the  joy  and  brightness 
of  Lorenzo's  and  Giuliano's  tournaments. 

Nor  even  when  Ferdinand  came  to  rule  inde- 
pendently was  there  at  first  much  change  in  this 
latter  respect.  It  was  in  the  year  1641  that  in 
the  great  hall  of  the  refectory  of  Santa  Croce  there 
took  place,  in  the  presence  of  the  Princes  of  the 
Blood,  the  nobility,  and  the  whole  of  the  Ministers 
and  high  officials  of  the  Government,  the  celebrated 
trial  of  Pandolfo  Kicasoli,  a  canon  of  the  cathedral, 
and  a  man  of  much  learning  and  respectability,  who 
was  accused  (whether  truly  or  falsely  will  never 
be  known)  of  grave  and  scandalous  immoralities ; 
and  he  and  one  Faustina  Mainardi,  who  was 
asserted  to  be  his  accomplice,  after  first  doing 
penance  in  the  Piazza  Santa  Croce  "  in  garments 
painted  with  flames  and  devils,"  were  condemned 


XXVIII.]  THE   INQUlSITIOxV  4l3 

to  be  walled  up  alive  in  one  of  the  dungeons  of 
Santa  Croce  ;  whicli  sentence  was  carried  out.^ 
It  is  evident  that  Ferdinand  had  strong  doubts 
whether  the  whole  charge  was  not  simply  due  to 
bitter  animosity  on  the  part  of  another  ecclesiastic. 
He  censured  the  latter  for  over-officiousness  in 
the  way  he  brought  forward  the  accusation,  and 
eventually  effected  his  removal  from  Florence  to 
Rome ;  thence,  however,  the  same  individual  was 
shortly  afterwards  sent  back  to  Florence  promoted 
to  the  high  office  of  head  of  the  Inquisition  in  that 
city.  The  insult  was  one  of  many  which  Pope 
Urban  VII I.  contrived  to  give  Ferdinand  in  revenge 
for  the  opposition  which  he  had  encountered  from 
the  Medici  to  his  seizure  of  Urbino. 

But  though  Ferdinand  thus  failed  ThePitti 
for  a  long  time  to  exert  any  successful  Palace  (s). 
opposition  to  the  dominant  power  of  the  Jesuits,  in 
other  directions  he  gradually  brought  about  im- 
provements, more  especially  as  his  brothers  began 
to  grow  older  and  to  assist  him  in  public  affairs. 
Moreover,  finding  it  so  difficult  to  bring  about  a 
satisfactory  state  of  things  in  regard  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  country  so  long  as  Urban  VIII.  was 
Pope,  he  turned  liis  attention  to  other  matters  in 
which  his  abilities  were  better  able  to  find  scope. 
The  family  now  consisted  of  Ferdinand  and  \^ittoria 
(he  being  by  this  time  thirty  and  she  nineteen) ; 
Prince  Giovanni  C'arlo,^  now  twenty-nine ;  Prince 

'  A  melaiiclioly  remiiiiscciioi'  of  this  celebrated  trial  roniaiiis  in  the 
Pitti  (lallery  in  the  portrait  of  this  Canon  Paiidoifo  llicasoli.  ]>aiiited 
with  a  de\il  nliispering  into  liis  ear  ;  this  latter  detail  liaving  been 
added  to   Iiis  portrait  after  this  trial. 

"  The  title  of"  I'rince"  and  "  I'rincess"  had  by  this  time  become 
customary  in  the  case  of  the  younger  nienibers  of  the  family. 


414  FERDINAND   II.  [^-'ap. 

Mattias,  twenty-seven;  the  Princess  Anna,  twenty- 
four;  and  Prince  Leopold,  twenty-three.  One  sister 
and  one  brother  were  dead,  while  the  third  sister 
(Margherita)  was  Duchess  of  Parma.  Under  the 
influence  of  his  young  wife  Vittoria  the  splendour 
of  the  court  continued  to  increase,  and  in  1640 
Ferdinand  determined  on  a  further  enlargement 
of  the  Grand  Ducal  palace.  The  enlargement  of 
the  palace  which  Ferdinand  now  carried  out  again 
nearly  doubled  it  in  size.  Cosimo  II. 's  additions 
had  made  the  palace  a  large  square  block,  three 
stories  high,  the  fa9ade  towards  the  Via  Romana 
having  thirteen  windows.^  To  this  Ferdinand  now 
added  two  more  great  wings  (two  stories  high)  in 
prolongation,  each  way,  of  the  front  portion  of  the 
palace,  thus  increasing  the  facade  to  its  present 
length  of  twenty-three  windows,^  at  the  same  time 
adding  the  buildings  round  the  two  inner  court- 
yards. At  the  eastern  end  he  constructed  a 
corridor  uniting  that  end  of  the  palace  with  the 
Passaggio.^ 

These  additions  gave  a  magnificent  range  of 
state  apartments  on  the  first  floor,  consisting  of 
about  sixty  rooms,  the  private  apartments  being 
chiefly  on  the  upper  floor.  As  soon  as  the 
additions  to  the  palace  were  completed  Ferdinand 
caused  the  whole  of  the  apartments  on  the  first 
floor  to  be  splendidly  decorated  with  ceiling- 
paintings  by  Piero  Berretini  da  Cortona,  Giro 
Ferri,  and  other  artists.  The  recent  discoveries 
in  astronomy  made  by  Galileo  were  memorialised 

1  See  plan  (Appendix  XIV.). 

2  See  Plate  LIII.     The  eastern  end  is  that  to  the  extreme  left  in 
the  picture. 

3  See  chap.  xxiv.  p.  294. 


xxviu]      THE   PALACE   AGAIN   ENLARGED         415 

in  these  decorations,  each  of  the  new  rooms  being 
dedicated  to  one  of  the  planets  (or  to  such  subjects 
as  Prometheus,  the  Iliad,  Flora,  etc.),  Jind  Cortona's 
splendid  ceiling-paintings  being  made  to  accord 
with  the  dedication. 

Thus  increased  to  its  present  size  the  Grand 
Ducal  palace  of  Tuscany  became  a  model  which 
several  other  sovereigns  endeavoured  in  after  years 
to  copy/  though  without  attaining  the  same  result. 
Fergusson,  speaking  of  it  in  his  History  of 
Architecture,  says : — 

"  The  fa9ade  is  460  feet  in  extent,  three  stories 
high  in  the  centre,  each  story  40  feet  in  height,  and 
the  immense  windows  of  each  24  feet  apart  from 
centre  to  centre :  with  such  dimensions  as  these 
even  a  brick  building  would  be  grand  ;  but  wlien 
we  add  to  this  the  boldest  rustication  all  over  the 
facade,  and  cornices  of  simple  but  bold  outline, 
there  is  no  palace  in  Europe  to  compare  to  it  for 
grandeur."^ 

And  Taine  says  : — 

"  Je  doute  qu'il  y  ait  un  })alais  plus  monumental 
en  Europe ;  je  n'en  ai  vu  qui  laisse  une  impression 
si  grandiose  et  si  simple." 

The  palace  which  the  Medici  had  built  in  1430 
in  the  Via  I^arga  had  surpassed  all  others  of  the 
fifteenth  century ;  but  no  less  did  that  which  nine 
generations  later  they  built  at  the  foot  of  the 
Boboli  hill  surpass  all  royal  palaces  in  Europe 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Some  idea  of  its 
dimensions  is  afforded  by  the  fact  tliat  the  central 
courtyard  (round  three  sides  of  which  the  centre 

^  F'or  instance  in  the  case  of  tlic  Koyal  Palace  at  Munich^  anrl  the 
Luxemhourjif  Pahice  at  Paris. 

'^  Ilhlory  o/  Architecture,  by  Fergusson. 


416  FERDINAND   II.  [chak 

block  of  the  palace  is  built)  is  exactly  the  size  of 
the  Strozzi  palace  in  the  Via  Tornabuoni.  It  is 
sometimes  said  that  this  was  done  intentionally, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  entire  Strozzi 
palace  could  be  placed  in  the  central  court  of  the 
palace  of  the  Medici ;  ^  but  whether  it  had  any 
such  intention  or  not,  the  fact  helps  us  to  realise 
the  size  of  the  palace  built  round  this  courtyard. 

The  palace  is  built  directly  upon  the  natural 
rock;  in  fact  in  one  of  the  two  inner  courtyards 
the  floor  of  the  courtyard  is  the  plain  rock,  lines 
having  been  cut  on  it  to  give  it  the  appearance  of 
being  paved ;  and  in  the  same  courtyard  are  (in 
the  walls  of  some  of  the  ground  -  floor  rooms) 
ornamental  gratings  by  looking  through  which 
the  virgin  rock  may  be  seen  actually  forming 
part  of  the  outer  walls  of  these  rooms.  Built  on 
such  foundations  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  palace 
presents  such  an  appearance  of  solidity. 

The  size  and  form  of  the  building  are  not 
apparent  in  looking  at  it  from  the  front,^  because 
the  two-storied  portions  added  by  Ferdinand  II., 
projecting  as  these  do  far  on  either  side  of  the 
centre  block,  hide  the  great  wings  which  extend 
backwards  at  right  angles  to  the  front  on  both 
sides  of  the  central  courtyard.  Owing  to  the 
unusual  shape  of  the  palace  there  is  no  point  from 
which  the  whole  form  of  it  can  be  seen ;  so  that 
from   whichever    side    regarded    it    always    looks 

^  Witli  the  usual  cui-ious  suppression  of  the  Medici,  even  in  regard 
to  the  palace  which  they  built,  this  supposed  intention  is  always 
attributed,  not  to  the  Medici,  l)ut  to  Luca  Pitti.  It  is  unfortunate  for 
this  version  of  the  story  that  the  Strozzi  palace  «/•«*•  not  built  until  after 
Luca  Pitti  was  dead. 

8  See  Plates  LIII.  and  LXXIX. 


XXVIII.]  SIZE  OF  THE   PALACE  417 

smaller  than  it  really  is  ;  and  it  is  only  by  walking 
all  round  it,  or  traversing  the  interior,  that  its  size 
can  be  appreciated.  The  latter  is  also  more  par- 
ticularly dwarfed  in  the  view  of  the  front  of  the 
palace  (Plate  LI  1 1.)  owing  to  the  fact  that  when 
looking  at  the  building  from  that  point  the  pro- 
jecting corner  of  the  upper  story  {see  plan),  while 
preventing  the  side  wall  of  the  centre  block  from 
being  seen,  also  gives  the  impression  that  the 
upper  story  is  only  one  room  in  depth ;  whereas 
there  are  more  than  fifty  rooms  on  that  story. 

The  interior  arrangements  of  the  palace  remain 
at  the  present  day  very  little  different  from  what 
they  w-ere  in  the  time  of  the  Medici,  notwithstand- 
ing that  it  has  since  been  occupied  by  two  other 
dynasties.  The  ground  floor  contains  the  Grand 
Ducal  chapel,  a  labyrinth  of  large  vaulted  rooms 
accommodating  various  offices  connected  with  the 
palace,  and  the  three  rooms  (known  collectively  as 
the  Treasure  Room^)  containing  the  gold  plate 
and  rare  cliina  for  state  occasions  and  many  other 
valuable  heirlooms  of  the  Medici.^  Beneath  one 
of  these  halls  on  the  ground  floor  is  to  be  seen 
the  large  swimming  bath  which  was  constructed 
by  Ferdinand  II.  at  the  last  enlargement  of  the 
palace.^  The  Grand  Ducal  chapel  remains  as  it 
was  in  the  time  of  the  JNIcdici  Grand  Dukes ;  the 

^  'Hie  name  does  not  refer  to  treasure  in  money  and  jewels,  uhicli 
were  kept  in  the  fortress  of  San  Giorgio  (chap.  xxvi.  p.  361). 

-  Si'c  chap.  xxxi.  p.  oO.'J  (m). 

•*  lieneatli  each  window  on  the  ground  floor  along  the  fa^^ide  is  a 
large  lion's  head  wearing  the  crown  of  Tuscany.  From  tlie  mouth  of 
the  one  nearest  to  tlie  archway  at  the  eastern  end  leading  into  the 
lioholi  gardens  issues  a  fountain  of  water,  said  to  he  the  purest  in 
Florence,  wliich  is  hrougiit  all  the  way  from  the  mountains  near 
Fratolino  (nine  miles  nortli  of  Fiesole),  being  carried  over  the  river 
by  a  pipe  laid  over  the  I'onte  Vecchio. 

VOL.    II.  2    D 


418  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

high  altar,  a  mass  of  the  finest  and  most  costly 
kind  of  pietra  dura  work,  was  given  to  it  by 
Cosimo  III.  The  grotto  under  the  terrace  at 
the  back  of  the  central  com-t  (with  marble  Cupids 
swimming  on  the  water  of  the  fountain)  has  on  its 
walls  the  arms  of  Vittoria  della  Rovere.  Ascend- 
ing to  the  first  floor  we  find  the  eastern  end  of 
the  former  state  apartments  occupied  by  the 
picture  gallery,  in  sixteen  large  rooms  decorated 
with  Cortona's  beautiful  ceiling-paintings,  with, 
opening  from  the  end  of  these  rooms,  the  rest 
of  the  state  apartments  (twenty  rooms)  and  the 
fifteen  rooms  which  were  occupied,  until  Florence 
ceased  to  be  the  capital,  by  the  late  King  of 
Italy.  The  hall  which  in  the  time  of  the  Medici 
Grand  Dukes  was  their  Throne  Room^  (situated 
in  the  original  portion  of  the  palace  built  by 
Cosimo  I.)  is  entirely  painted,  both  on  the  arched 
roof  and  walls,  with  frescoes,  executed  in  the  time 
of  Ferdinand  I.,  by  Pocetti,"  representing  the  found- 
ing of  Leghorn,  the  battles  of  Ferdinand's  army 
and  navy  with  the  Turks,  the  attack  and  capture 
of  Bona  from  the  Barbary  pirates  by  the  knights 
of  Santo  Stefano,  and  other  deeds  of  Ferdinand  I. 
and  his  father.  In  this  hall  is  now  placed  the 
beautiful  bronze  statue,  executed  for  Ferdinand  I. 
by  Gian  da  Bologna,^  of  the  Genius  of  the  Medici ; 
also  the  costly  ornamental  cabinet  presented  to 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica  by  the  city  of  Paris.* 
The  rooms  which  were  those  of  the  Grand  Duchess 
Vittoria  della  Rovere  have  on  the  ceiling-paintings 
her  motto  and  family  arms,  the  oak.    In  the  rooms 

^  Tlie  present  Throne  Room  is  in  another  apartment. 
"  Died  1611'.  2  Died  1608. 

*  C;hap   xxxi.  p.  509  (footnote). 


xxviii]  INTERIOR   ARRANGEMENTS  419 

which  were  those  of  the  Grand  Duchess  Marguerite 
Louise  of  Orleans  (wife  of  Cosimo  III.)  are  various 
pictures  by  French  artists.  In  another  room  is 
to  be  seen  the  fine  portrait  which  Paolo  Veronese 
painted  of  the  Grand  Duke  Francis  I.  And  in 
various  rooms  are  specimens  of  the  finest  work  of 
the  Tapestry  Manufactory  founded  by  Cosimo  I., 
and  of  the  Pietra  Dura  Manufactory  founded  by 
Ferdinand  I.  On  the  upper  floor  are,  in  the  right 
wing  the  range  of  apartments  occupied  by  the 
present  King  of  Italy  when  in  Florence  (including 
the  private  ball-room  and  private  dining-room),  in 
the  left  wing  the  apartments  set  apart  for  guests  of 
the  court,  and  in  the  centre,  facing  the  piazza  in 
front  of  the  palace,  the  private  apartments  formerly 
occupied  by  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany.  These 
latter,  the  finest  of  the  fifty  rooms  on  the  upper 
floor,  have  splendid  goffered  ceilings  of  the  same 
description  as  those  in  the  rooms  of  the  Palazzo 
Vecchio  which  Cosimo  I.  had  decorated  for 
Eleonora  di  Toledo ;  and  as  this  portion  of  the 
upper  floor  of  the  palace  formed  part  of  Cosimo's 
building  it  is  probable  that  these  rooms  were  thus 
decorated  for  her  in  the  same  way. 

The  views  from  the  great  windows  of  the  first 
floor  are  very  fine ;  but  it  is  upon  the  upper  floor 
that  the  best  idea  is  gained  of  the  size  and  height 
of  the  building  and  the  extent  of  the  views  from 
it.  Owing  to  the  great  height  of  the  palace,  and 
its  position  on  a  slight  eminence,  the  views  looking 
from  the  balcony  ^  of  the  upper  floor  are  splendid, 

^  Along  the  whole  front  of  the  huilding  at  the  top  of  each  of  the 
three  stories  run  stone  l)al(onies.  They  add  much  to  the  general  effect 
in  looking  at  it  from  below. 


420  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

the  eye  being  carried  right  over  tlie  city,  and  the 
view  embracing  the  entire  valley  of  the  Arno  and 
the  mountains  surrounding  it.  Similarly  from  the 
back  of  the  palace  on  the  same  story  an  extensive 
view  is  afforded  of  the  whole  of  the  Boboli  gardens, 
sloping  up  to  the  Fort  of  San  Giorgio  ;  while  from 
the  large  centre  window  of  the  main  portion  of  the 
building,  as  well  as  from  the  rooms  at  the  ends  of 
the  two  wings,  sports  and  pastimes  taking  place 
in  the  amphitheatre  situated  in  this  part  of  the 
gardens  could  be  as  easily  watched  as  if  sitting  in 
the  amphitheatre. 

Such   was  the  palace  in  which  the  last  three 
generations  of  the  Medici  passed  their  lives. 

„,  „. ,  Ferdinand's  reign  witnessed  a  great 
Dura  in-  activity  in  regard  to  the  minor  arts,  and 
dustry.  especially  in  regard  to  one  of  them. 
While  at  this  time  various  sculptors,  in  particular 
Pietro  and  Ferdinando  Tacca  (the  successors  of 
Gian  da  Bologna),  attained  a  certain  excellence, 
"  the  last  gleams  of  expiring  genius,"  the  chief 
direction  to  which  the  artistic  talent  of  Florence 
at  this  period  devoted  its  energies  was  that  of  the 
Florentine  inlay-work,  or  pietra  du7ri  industry, 
which  had  been  started  by  Ferdinand's  grand- 
father, Ferdinand  I.  The  reign  of  Ferdinand  II. 
is  notable  as  that  in  which  this  art  made  so 
great  an  advance  that  it  became  a  speciality  of 
Florence.  This  work  was,  however,  so  costly 
that  only  the  purse  of  the  Grand  Duke  could 
bear  its  expense ;  consequently  almost  all  the 
efforts  of  the  art  were  put  forth  in  connection 
with  the  Royal  Manufactory  of  Pietra  Dura.     The 


xxvni]  THE  PIETRA   DURA    INDUSTRY         421 

erection  of  the  mausoleum,  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  which  that  manufactory  had  been  started, 
was  steadily  proceeding,  while  the  very  best  work 
which  the  manufactory  could  produce  was  being 
prepared  for  the  hitarsiatura  work  on  the  lower 
part  of  the  walls.^  In  addition  to  this  there  was 
also  a  constant  deinand  from  the  Grand  Ducal 
palace,  now  that  it  had  been  so  much  enlarged,  for 
inlaid  tables,  cabinets,  and  numerous  other  articles 
in  this  work.^  Ferdinand  took  immense  interest 
in  this  industry,  fostering  it  to  the  utmost,  and 
under  him  it  reached  its  highest  development.  As 
a  consequence  other  countries  became  eager  to 
emulate  Florence  in  this  new  art,  and  Florentine 
artists  skilful  in  it  were  invited  to  France  and 
other  countries  to  introduce  it  there.  Tlie  chief 
advance  made  at  this  time  was  in  the  produc- 
tion of  half-tints  and  shadows,  to  obtain  which 
search  for  suitable  stones  was  made  in  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  world.  Describing  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  art,  Baldinucci  says : — 

"  Whereas  it  is  the  aim  of  a  good  painter  to 
mix  and  diffuse  his  colours  so  as  to  form  an 
infinite  number  of  half-tints,  all  differing  essentially 
from  the  original  colour,  the  artist  in  commcsso^ 
cannot  multiply  his  material,  nor  melt  one  colour 
into  another,  but  must  adopt  the  stone  as  nature 
made  it.  In  order  to  convey  the  colour  by  in- 
sensible gradations  from  the  highest  light  to  the 
deepest  shadow,  he  must  seek  out  tlie  most  delicate 
tints   which    nature    has   produced    in    stone    and 

'  See  cliap.  xxvi.  p.  .S.'iH. 

-  M.iiiy  of  these,  all  the  property  of  Ferdiiiaiul  or  his  hrolhers,  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  I'itti  and  the  (Jffizi  Galleries. 
^  The  name  ffiven  to  this  superior  kind  of  mosaic. 


422  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

observe  the  infinite  number  of  shades  discoverable 
in  the  hardest  gems  and  other  stones." 

But  though  so  difficult  to  execute,  it  is  practically 
indestructible,  and  this  caused  it  to  be  highly  valued. 
The  most  skilful  artist  in  this  new  form  of  the 
art  was  Luigi  Siries,  a  Frenchman,  who  settled 
at  Florence,  and  was  appointed  by  Ferdinand 
Director  of  the  Royal  Manufactory.^ 

Ferdinand's  and  Vittoria's  first  child,  a  son,  to 
whom  they  gave  the  name  of  Cosimo,  had  been 
born  in  1639,  but  only  lived  a  week  or  two. 
Another  child,  a  daughter,  was  born  in  1641,  but 
also  only  lived  a  s,hort  time.^  In  1642,  however, 
another  son  was  born,  to  whom  again  the  name  of 
Cosimo  was  given,  and  who  lived  to  succeed  his 
father.  This  was  followed  by  the  marriage  of 
Ferdinand's  remaining  sister,  the  Princess  Anna, 
to  her  first  cousin,  Ferdinand  Karl,  the  eldest  son 
of  her  aunt  Claudia,^  he  being  sixteen  and  she 
twenty-six.  In  Anna's  portrait  by  Sustermans,* 
taken  when  she  was  about  twenty,  her  likeness  to 
her  brother  Ferdinand  ^  is  very  marked.  Ferdinand 
Karl  and  Anna  preferred  the  attractions  of  the 
splendid  court  of  Tuscany  to  the  mountains  of 
Tyrol,  and  were  more  often  at  Florence  than 
at  Innsbruck.      They  had  one  daughter   Claudia 

'  "The  large  tables  in  the  Pitti  Gallerj'^  with  a  porphyry  ground- 
work, and  with  representations  of  shells  and  flowers  delicately  shaded, 
are  all  the  work  of  Luigi  and  Carlo  Siries  "  (Horner). 

^  Her  tombstone  has  on  it  in  Latin  the  words,  '^  You  who  read  ask 
not  my  name.  I  was  a  little  daughter  of  Ferdinand  H.,  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  and  having  entered  this  life  and  been  duly  baptized  then 
gladly  sought  the  heavenly  life." 

^  See  p.  397.  Claudia  died  in  1648,  after  resigning  the  government 
of  Tvrol  to  her  son,  Ferdinand  Karl,  in  1646. 

*■  Plate  LXXXVI.  *  Hec  Plate  LXXXH. 


I'LATE  LXXXVr. 


A/iiuiri] 


ANNA     111:       MIDIi   1  ,     ItAI  i.ll  IKll 

li\    Su-tcriii,iii<. 


'I     rcKnid    II. 


[I'ini  <,;,lln-;i. 


Pr.ATK   I.XX.WII. 


UIRKNZO,    BBOTHKI!     nl      iiisIMii     II. 
From  an  ohl  Enr/raraig. 


xxviii]        ASSISTANCE   GIVEN   TO   PARMA  4«3 

Felicitas,^    born    at    Florence,    who    married    the 
Emperor  Leopold  I. 

During  the  next  two  years,  while  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  continued  to  be  waged  with  unabated 
energy  in  northern  Europe,"  and  while  England 
was  becoming  involved  in  civil  war  between 
Charles  I.  and  his  Parliament,  Pope  Urban  VIII. 
kept  Italy  also  in  a  continual  ferment  by  his 
endeavours  to  seize  upon  various  territories  for  his 
family,  the  Barberini.  On  his  thus  trying  to  take 
Castro  and  Ronciglione  from  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
the  latter  marched  his  army  through  Tuscany  into 
the  territories  of  the  Pope,  who  was  greatly 
alarmed  at  this  attack.  Ferdinand  was  drawn 
into  the  quarrel,  both  to  assist  his  brother-in-law 
and  to  defend  his  own  state,  but  his  military  opera- 
tions were  feeble,  and  brought  Tuscany  no  glory. 
In  fact,  the  condition  of  the  country  was  such  that 
military  strength  was  as  impossible  as  satisfac- 
tory civil  administration.  The  swarms  of  ecclesi- 
astics who  exercised  a  dominating  power  in  every 
department  of  the  national  life,  who  grievously 
mismanaged  everything  they  touched,  and  who 
acknowledged  no  authority  but  that  of  a  Pope 
whose  object  was  to  obstruct  the  ruler  of  the 
country  in  every  way,  produced  conditions  which 
made  military  efficiency  impossible.  The  domina- 
tion of  the  country  by  an  ecclesiastical  hier- 
archy of  this  kind  produced  tribunals  which  were 
corrupt  and  arbitrary ;  it  created  monopolies,  privi- 
leges,   immunities    from    taxation,    and    vexatious, 

^  There  is  a  portrait  of  Claudia  Felicitas  (in  the  character  of  Galla 
Pliicidia)  in  the  I'tlizi  (iallery,  hohling  a  crucifix  in  her  hand,  and 
with  a  liroken  idol  on  the  table  bel'ore  her. 

-  Tlie  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  died  in  l(jo7,  and  was  succeeded  bv 
Ferdinand  III.  (1637  IG08}. 


4.24  FERDINAND   II.  [oiap. 

ill-advised  laws,  under  which  agriculture  dwindled 
and  trade  threatened  to  expire ;  and  it  made  the 
people  in  general  completely  poverty-stricken. 
It  is  remarkable  that  under  such  conditions  no 
conspiracies  should  have  arisen  against  Ferdinand's 
rule.  We  still  see  the  old  names  appearing  from 
time  to  time — Capponi,  Rucellai,  Acciajoli,  Ridolfi, 
and  others — families  whose  members  had  in  former 
times  been  ever  ready  to  head  such  revolts ;  but 
none  ever  seemed  tempted  to  originate  a  revolt 
against  Ferdinand.  His  officials  were  powerless, 
his  troops  contemptible,  both  Spain  and  France 
exceedingly  cool  towards  him,  and  the  Pope 
inimical ;  so  that,  except  for  one  consideration,  a 
revolt  against  his  authority  would  have  been  easy  to 
carry  out.  But  the  affection  of  the  poorer  classes 
of  the  people  was  too  great  to  make  a  rebellion 
against  him  practicable,  Ferdinand's  goodness  of 
heart,  liberality,  love  of  peace,  and  easy-going  ways 
giving  them  a  strong  regard  for  him.  Tliough  the 
mismanagement  of  the  country  was  palpable,  and 
though  the  sufferings  caused  by  its  subjection 
to  a  crowd  of  insolent  and  tyrannical  priests  and 
monks  were  felt  in  every  department  of  life,  yet 
nevertheless  the  people  liked  Ferdinand.  There 
must  have  been  much  that  was  good  in  a  ruler 
who  under  such  adverse  conditions  still  retained 
the  affection  of  his  subjects. 

At  length  in  1644  Tuscany  was  at  last  relieved 
from  that  which  had  formed  its  chief  infliction 
for  twenty  -  one  years,  by  the  death  of  Pope 
Urban  VIII.  He  was  succeeded  by  Innocent  X. 
(1644-1655),  and  the  new  Pope  adopted  an  entirely 
different    attitude    towards    Ferdinand,    showing 


xxviu]  HIS   UNCLE    LORENZO  425 

much  friendliness  towards  him  ;  and  Tuscany  soon 
felt  the  effect  of  this  in  an  end  being  put  to  the 
evils  due  to  ecclesiastical  tyranny  under  which  the 
country  had  so  long  groaned.  As  one  outcome 
of  this  friendly  feeling  the  new  Pope  made  the 
eldest  of  Ferdinand's  brothers,  Prince  Giovanni 
Carlo,  a  cardinal. 

In  1648  the  Thirty  Years'  War  came 
to  an  end.  And  in  the  same  year 
Ferdinand's  uncle  Lorenzo,^  the  third  brother  of 
Cosimo  IL,  died  at  the  age  of  forty-eight.  His  life 
had  been  spoilt,  partly  by  his  own  fault,  partly 
by  circumstances.  He  had  good  talents,  and  was 
anxious  to  employ  them  for  the  advantage  of  his 
country,  but  from  one  cause  or  another  had  been 
prevented  from  doing  so.  Twenty  years  old  when 
his  brother,  Cosimo  IL,  died,  and  his  only  other 
brother.  Carlo,  being  a  cardinal  and  living  always 
at  Rome,  Lorenzo  had  been  anxious  to  take  some 
part  in  the  government  of  the  country,  but  was 
not  allowed  by  the  two  Grand  Duchesses  to  do 
so.  Foiled  in  this  he  tried  to  obtain  a  command 
in  the  Spanish  army,  but  in  this  also  was  dis- 
appointed, as  in  consequence  of  his  pressing  Spain 
so  persistently  to  take  up  his  nephew's  cause  in 
the  matter  of  Urbino,  he  fell  into  ill-favour  at 
the  Spanish  court  and  was  refused  the  military 
command  which  had  been  promised  him.  The 
result  of  tliese  iai lures  was  that  he  drifted  about, 
his  life  alternating  between  literary  pursuits  and 
all  kinds  of  erratic  diversions.  Fond  of  learned 
men,  he  collected  round  him  a  sort  of  academy  out 

^  Plate  LXXXVII.      His  portrait  sliows  a  likeness  to  Charles  II., 
the  grandson  of  Lorenzo's  first  cousin,  Marie  do  Medici. 


426  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

of  which  he  subsequently  formed  two  societies 
which  he  called  the  "  Inflamed "  and  the  "  Im- 
movable," the  latter  of  which,  established  in  the 
Via  della  Pergola,  eventually  grew  into  the  well- 
known  theatre  of  that  name.  Among  other 
peculiarities,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  constantly 
taking  all  sorts  of  medicines,  and  eventually  died 
from  a  dose  of  poison  given  him  in  mistake 
for  medicine.'  In  the  following  year  (1649)  all 
Europe  was  horrified  at  the  execution  by  the 
English  of  their  King,  Charles  I.  But  the  event 
created  little  stir  in  Tuscany,  which  had  long  ceased 
to  have  any  commercial  or  political  transactions 
with  England,  or  to  pay  much  attention  to  events 
taking  place  outside  Italy. 

Ferdinand  11.  was  now  a  man  of  forty.  In 
his  fine  portrait^  by  Sustermans  (taken  at  about 
that  age),  though  contriving  to  give  himself  with 
the  aid  of  armour  and  other  accessories  a  formidable 
appearance,  this  was  no  doubt  with  a  view  to  hide 
his  real  disposition,  which,  as  already  noted,  was 
kind,  good-hearted,  and  weak.  He  wears  a  large 
cloak  over  his  armour  and  the  cross  of  Grand 
JNIaster  of  the  Order  of  Santo  Steiano. 

Vittoria    della    Rovere   (whose    portrait® 

della      by  Sustermans  shows  her  as  she  was  at 

about  five  -  and  -  twenty)  proved   a  most 

unsatisfactory  wife  to  Ferdinand,  and  was  a  dis- 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened  the  body  vvas  found  "  dressed  in  clothes  made  in  the 
Spanish  fashion,  with  a  doublet  of  vaolet-coloured  velvet  embroidered 
in  goldj  and  a  felt  cap  with  plumes  ;  on  the  boots  were  spurs  of  oxidised 
iron."  A  leaden  plate  fixed  inside  the  coffin  bore  his  name,  and  a  long 
eulogv  of  some  twenty  lines  detailing  his  manv  talents. 

^  Plate  LXXXVili  ^  PkteLXXXIX. 


PLATE   LXXXVIII. 


A/iiKiri] 


IKHKINAM)     II. 

liv  Snsteriii;iii> 


[rifi:i  Oaf/fn/. 


PLATE  LXXXIX. 


A  linari] 


VITTORIA    DKI.LA    ROVERK,    WIKK    OK    FKRDINANI)    II. 

By  Sustermaus. 


[f-',lfi:i  OaUenj. 


xxviii.J  VITTORIA   BELLA   ROVERE  427 

appointment  all  through.  She  neither  brought  him 
the  dowry  of  the  Duchy  of  Urbino  which  had  been 
the  sole  reason  for  his  being  betrothed  to  her  as 
a  boy  of  twelve,  nor  did  she  make  up  for  being 
a  portionless  bride  by  any  qualities  in  her  own 
character.  She  was  foolish,  vain,  ignorant,  and 
utterly  frivolous.  As  tlie  result  of  her  education 
in  the  seclusion  of  tlie  convent  of  the  Crocetta  she 
was  entirely  ruled  by  the  priests ;  while,  having 
none  of  the  tolerant  spirit  in  matters  of  religion 
which  Ferdinand  and  his  brothers  possessed,  she 
was  a  constant  cause  of  discord  in  the  family. 
She  also  had  a  bad  temper,  and  the  strife  which 
she  created  soon  became  so  great  that  for  many 
years  she  and  her  husband  were  entirely  separated, 
living  in  different  parts  of  the  palace,  and  never 
seeing  each  other  except  when  attending  state 
functions ;  though  this  state  of  things,  after  con- 
tinuing for  about  seventeen  years,  was  brought  to 
an  end  in  1659,  when  a  reconciliation  took  place. 

But  the  most  lasting  harm  which  Vittoria  della 
Rovere  did  to  the  family  fortunes  was  produced  by 
the  kind  of  education  which  she  insisted  on  orivinop 
to  her  son  Cosimo,  who  was  brought  up  by  her 
from  a  child  with  the  sort  of  training  more  suited 
to  one  who  was  to  become  a  monk  than  that 
required  in  the  case  of  one  who  was  to  be  the 
ruler  of  a  state :  with  results  altogether  disastrous 
to  himself  and  to  Tuscany.  Looking  at  the  way 
that  she  was  throughout  his  life  a  heavy  drag 
upon  her  husband,  hampering  his  best  efforts  and 
increasing  that  priestly  domination  which  was  ruin- 
ing the  country,  at  the  still  more  fatal  effect  of 
her  manner  of  training  her  son  who  was  destined 


428  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

to  rule  Tuscany  for  over  half  a  century,  and  at  the 
long  period  during  which  her  pernicious  influence 
was  exercised,  we  may  with  justice  say  that  if 
Giulio  de'  Medici  was  the  evil  genius  of  the  earlier 
generations  of  the  family,  Vittoria  della  Rovere 
was  the  evil  genius  of  its  last  three  generations. 
For  to  her  chiefly  was  due  tlie  despicable  character 
of  its  decline  and  end.  The  portraits  of  Vittoria 
are  numerous,  as  she  delighted  in  being  painted  in 
various  characters  ;  her  portrait  by  Sustermans,  in 
the  Pitti  Gallery,  as  a  Vestal  Virgin,  is  one  of  the 
most  notable  ;  in  another,  also  in  the  Pitti  Gallery, 
she  appears  as  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  a  group  of  the 
Holy  Family ;  and  in  another,  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery, 
as  the  Magdalen.  Whilst  Vittoria  della  Rovere 
was  Grand  Duchess  the  court  was  maintained  with 
the  utmost  magnificence.  She  had  a  large  number 
of  maids-of-honour,  chosen  from  all  the  noblest 
Florentine  families,  and  the  whole  set  of  their 
portraits  ^  is  to  be  seen  in  the  long  corridor  between 
the  Pitti  and  Uffizi  Galleries.  Vittoria  survived 
her  husband  twenty  -  three  years,  so  that  her 
baneful  influence  was  prolonged  also  for  nearly 
half  the  next  reign. 

It  is   a  far  cry  from   Florence  to  Agra, 

Florence  "^  n 

and       from   the  puny  court  of  the  small   and 

Agra.  . 

decaying  state  of  Tuscany  to  the  magni- 
ficent splendour  of  the  court  of  the  Great  Mogul, 
the   ruler  over  two  hundred  miUions"  of  people, 

^  They  ai-e  those  iu  square  frames  at  the  northernmost  end  of  the 
g-allery.  Tlie  set  (more  satisfactorily  painted)  in  oval  frames,  nearer 
to  the  Pitti  end  of  the  gallery^  are  those  of  the  maids-of-honour  of  the 
next  Grand  Duchess,  during  the  reign  of  Cosimo  III. 

-  The  population  of  India  now  is  three  hundred  millions. 


xxvni.]  FLORENCE   AND   AGRA  429 

and  an  empire  the  size  of  Europe.  Rut  even 
in  the  days  of  her  decadence  Florence,  which 
once  had  led  Europe  in  Learning  and  Art,  was 
still  able  to  make  her  influence  reach  even  to  such 
a  far-off  region  as  this,  and  to  write  her  name  in 
imperishable  letters  on  the  palaces  of  India. 

Nowhere  in  all  the  world  does  the  sunset  of 
departed  glory  make  us  feel  its  pathos  as  in  the 
long-silent  marble  halls  of  the  palaces  of  Agra  and 
Delhi.  In  them  we  are  surrounded  by  the  very 
spirit  of  Omar  Khayyam's  words : — 

"The  palace  that  to  heaven  its  eohinins  threw 
And  kings  the  forehead  on  its  threshold  drew, 

I  saw  the  solitary  ring-dove  there. 
And  'coo,  coo,  coo,'  she  cried,  and  'coo,  coo,  coo.'" 

But  there  is  something  else  there  besides  this. 
For  there  we  may  see,  if  we  look  closely,  the  first 
faint  beginnings  of  the  West  to  influence  the 
East ;  the  flrst  evidence  in  India  (after  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great)  of  a  Western  hand  and 
brain,  guiding  Eastern  taste  into  a  more  perfect 
expression  of  its  own  spirit.  It  is  written  in  letters 
of  lapis-lazuU,  topaz,  jasper,  ruby,  and  turquoise ; 
and  it  is  the  hand  of  Florence  that  wrote  it. 

When  we  stand   in  the  Diwan-i-Am  ^   of  the 
palace  at  Delhi,  where  stood  the  Peacock  Throne," 

^  Public  Audience  Hall. 

~  The  Peacock  Throne  was  made  by  the  Emperor  Slialijeliaii,  and 
valued  at  if^yWO/KK).  it  was  set  with  an  enormous  profusion  of  rui)ies, 
emeralds,  topaz,  and  diamonds,  and  included  two  peacocks  (tlie  work 
of  Austin  de  IJordeaux)  made  entirely  of  precious  stones.  It  was 
eventually  carried  off  by  Nadir  iShah  when  he  invaded  India  in  the 
eigliteenth  century.  Hernicr,  the  French  physician,  who  .^^aw  it  in 
1663,  wrote  a  long  description  of  it. 


430  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

the  hall  which  has  round  its  cornice  in  gold 
letters  the  celebrated  inscription — 

**  Agar  Firdous  ba-ru-e  zamin  ust 

To  wuheen  ust,  wuheen  ust "  ;  ^ 

when  we  visit  the  beautiful  Diwan-i-Khas  ^  of  the 
same  palace,  whose  windows  of  delicate  marble 
tracery  look  out  over  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Jumna ;  when  we  walk  through  the  Diwan-i- 
Khas,^  or  the  Khas  Mahal,*  or  the  Saman  Boorj,^ 
of  the  palace  at  Agra,  or  sit  in  the  quiet  garden 
on  the  bank  of  the  river  while  before  us  rises 
that  "  dream  in  marble,"  the  Taj  ;  ^  and  when  we 
see  these  beautiful  white  marble  buildings  of  the 
Indian  Saracenic '^  architecture  decorated  every- 
where, round  arch  and  pillar,  doorway  and  window, 
with  delicate  floral  tracery  of  jasper,  agate,  cornelian, 
blood-stone,  lapis-lazuli,  ruby,  turquoise,  and  other 

'  "  If  there  be  an  Elysium  on  earth, 
It  is  thiSj  it  is  this.'^ 

^  Private  Audience  Hall. 

^  Of  the  Biwan-i- Khan  at  Agra,  Bernard  Taylor  says  : — ''The  three 
white  pavilions  overhanging  the  river  are  like  precious  caskets  of 
marble,  inlaid  with  precious  stones  and  topped  with  golden  domes. 
Balustrades  of  marble,  wrought  in  open  patterns  of  such  rich  design 
that  they  resemble  fringes  of  lace,  extend  along  the  edge  of  the  battle- 
ments, llie  Jumna  washes  the  walls  seventy  feet  below,  and  from  the 
balconies  the  eye  looks  out  upon  the  gardens  and  palm  groves  on  the 
opposite  bank,  and  on  tlie  Taj,  like  a  palace  of  ivory  and  crystal,  about 
a  mile  down  the  stream." 

*  Private  Apartments. 

^  Jasmine  Tower. 

^  The  Taj,  the  tomb  of  Urjummund  Banu  Begum,  Shahjehau's 
lavourite  wife,  and  in  which  he  and  she  lie  buried  side  by  side, 
took  twenty  years  to  build,  and  its  cost  is  variously  estimated  from 
£2,000,000  to  £4,000,000  sterling  for  materials  alone,  nothing  being 
paid  for  the  labour  except  the  food  of  the  workmen. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  use  any  other  word  for  this  architecture 
than  Saracenic  ;  but  except  in  so  strong  a  resemblance,  this  style  of 
architecture  has  no  connection  with  that  developed  by  the  Saracen  Turks. 
It  was  an  entirely  independent  style  developed  by  the  Chaghtai  Turks, 
whom  w6  know  as  the  Moguls.  Its  best  name  seems,  therefore, 
''Indian  Saracenic." 


xxviii.]  INDIAN   INLAY    WORK  431 

precious  stones,  the  originals  long  since  picked 
out  of  the  marble  by  the  sword  and  bayonet  of 
plundering  Mahratta,  Jat,  or  Pathan  invader,  but 
replaced  in  imitation  by  the  reverent  care  of  later 
British  conquerors ;  and  when  we  afterwards  see 
similar  work  in  the  inlaid  tables  of  the  Medici  in 
Florence,  or  in  their  mausoleum,  we  are  apt  to 
imagine  that  Florence  copied  this  art  from  far- 
away India.  But  it  was  not  so.  Each  was  inde- 
pendent of  the  other.  But  though  the  munuhhut- 
kari,  or  Indian  inlay  work  of  inserting  designs  in 
precious  stones  into  pure  white  marble,  existed 
long  before  it  received  any  influence  from  the 
West,  and  came  originally  from  Persia,  the  im- 
provement in  the  designs  which  is  visible  in  these 
palaces  at  Delhi  and  Agra  received  its  inspiration 
from  Florence.^ 

It  was  in  1627  that  the  fifth  of  the  Mogul 
Emperors,  the  Emperor  Shahjehan,  the  great 
building  Emperor,  grandson  of  "the  great  and 
magnificent  Akbar,"^  succeeded  his  father,  the 
Emperor  Jehangir,  and  began  that  series  of  beauti- 
ful buildings,  first  at  Delhi,  and  then  at  Agra, 
which  made  his  reign  of  thirty  years  the  culmi- 
nating point  of  Mogul  architecture.  In  1629 
his  beloved  wife,  Urjummund  Banu  (niece  of  the 
celebrated  Nur  Mahal),  died,  and  Sliahjehun  deter- 
mined that  she  should  have  the  most  splendid 
tomb  ever  erected  over  any  woman.  How  well 
he  carried  out  this  determination  has  been  attested 
by  the  world  at  large.     It  has  been  well  said : — 

^  It  is  of  course  not  the  architecture  of  tliese  buihliiiijs,  hut  only 
their  decoration,  wliicli  is  referred  to  as  showing  this  intluencc  ;  and 
this  only  to  the  extent  mentioned. 

2  Moore. 


4)32  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

"  The  Taj  is  in  harmony  with  that  side  of 
Eastern  feehng  which  regards  a  white  miishn  tunic 
and  an  aigrette  of  diamonds  as  full  dress  for  an 
emperor"  (Keene). 

"  So  light  it  seems,"  says  Bernard  Tiiylor,  "  so 
airy,  so  like  a  fabric  of  mist  and.  dreams,  with  its 
great  marble  dome  soaring  up  like  a  silvery  bubble, 
that  even  after  you  have  touched  it  and  climbed  it 
you  may  almost  doubt  its  reality." 

And  it  is  in  the  Taj  ^  that  we  first  see  that 
change  in  the  inlay  work  which  denotes  the 
influence  of  the  Florentine  pietra  dura  artists,  a 
change  still  further  developed  afterwards  in  the 
inlay  work  ornamenting  the  palaces  of  Delhi  and 
Agra.  In  1648  Ferdinand,  as  a  part  of  his 
endeavours  to  make  the  new  industry  at  Florence 
still  more  perfect,  sent  Austin  de  Bordeaux,  a 
Frenchman  in  his  service  who  was  one  of  the 
leading  workers  in  the  Royal  Manufactory,  wdth 
several  other  artificers,  to  the  Emperor  Shahjehan  ^ 
to  procure  certain  silices  only  to  be  obtained  in 
India.  These  Florentines  w^hile  at  the  court  of 
the  Great  Mogul  suggested  more  artistic  designs 
for  the  inlay  work  going  on  in  the  decoration 
of  the  new  buildings  at  Delhi  and  Agra,  intro- 
ducing more  delicate  floral  patterns ;  while  Austin 
de  Bordeaux,  instead  of  returning  to  Florence,  took 
service  permanently  under  the  Emperor  Sliahjehan 
for  this  kind  of  w^ork,  being  chiefly  employed  upon 
the  ornamentation  of  the  palace  at  Delhi  and  the 
construction  of  the  Peacock  Throne.^     And  from 

1  The  architect  of  the  Taj  was  a  Turk  named  Eesa  Effendi. 

'  Ferdinand  was  probably  placed  in  communication  with  the  Mogul 
Emperor  through  the  Augustinian  monks  in  India. 

'^  Austin  de  Bordeaux  was  eventually  poisoned  at  Delhi  by  some  of 
those  who  were  jealous  of  his  influence  with  the  Emperor  Shahjehan 


XXVIII.  J  PRINCE   MATTIAS  4^3 

this  time  forth  the  inlay  work  at  Delhi  and  Agra 
shows  that  resemblance  which  has  been  mentioned 
to  the  piet?^a  dura  work  of  Florence.  Thus  did 
Tuscany,  even  in  her  decay,  still  show  power  to  in- 
fluence other  countries  far  beyond  her  own  narrow 
boundaries,  and  left  her  sign-manual  upon  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  arts  of  India. 

One  of  the  best  arran^^ements  made 

I'll  Mattias. 

by  Ferdinand  II.  was  the  plan  which  he 
adopted  about  the  middle  of  his  reign  of  associating 
his  three  brothers  with  himself  in  the  government 
of  the  country,  and  giving  each  of  them  one  branch 
of  State  affairs  to  administer  with  almost  com- 
plete authority,  one  controlling  military  affairs,  one 
finance,  and  the  third  political  affairs.  Matters 
being  well  administered  in  each  case,  the  arrange- 
ment was  both  popular  and  productive  of  much 
good  to  the  country.  Prince  Mattias  ^  commanded 
the  army  and  had  the  management  of  all  mili- 
tary affairs.  He  was  a  good  soldier,  and  had 
seen  much  service  in  Germany  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  from  whence  he  returned  with  a  high 
reputation  to  command  the  army  of  Tuscany,  In 
addition  to  this  office  he  was  also  made  Governor 
of  Siena,  where  he  became  very  popular,  and  was 
more  often  there  than  in  Florence.  His  portrait 
by  Sustermans  in  the  Pitti  Gallery  shows  him  as 
he  was  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  which  termin- 
ated at  the  age  of  fifty-four ;  he  wears  a  blue  scarf 
over  his  armour,  and  a  large  white  collar  in  the 
fashion   of  the   time,    and  holds  in   his  hand  the 

1  Plate  XC. 
VOL.    II.  2  E 


434  FERDINAND  II.  [chak 

baton  denoting  his  office  as   Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  army. 

Giovanni  Cardinal  Giovanni  Carlo  ^  had  the 
Carlo,  control  of  financial  affairs,  which  he 
managed  well.  On  being  created  a  cardinal  by 
Innocent  X.  he  had  resided  for  some  years  at 
Rome,  where  after  being  employed  by  the  Pope 
in  various  capacities  he  was  at  length  sent  to 
receive  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden,  the  daughter 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  when  in  1654  she  re- 
nounced her  throne  in  consequence  of  becoming 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  came  to  settle  in  Rome. 
Innocent  X.,  however,  died  in  the  following  year, 
being  succeeded  by  Alexander  VII.  (1655-1667), 
and  the  new  Pope  found  that  "the  society  of 
young  prelates  and  Christina's  attractions  became 
so  agreeable  to  all  parties "  ^  that  he  thought  it 
desirable  to  appoint  a  cardinal  of  maturer  years  as 
Queen  Christina's  spiritual  director,  and  requested 
Ferdinand  to  recall  Giovanni  Carlo  to  Florence, 
he  being  considered  by  the  Pope  too  young  and 
handsome  for  such  an  office.  Like  his  younger 
brother  Leopold,  Giovanni  Carlo  was  a  great 
collector  of  pictures  and  other  objects  of  art,  and 
a  keen  assistant  in  every  undertaking  entered  upon 
by  Ferdinand  to  promote  the  advancement  of 
Science,  Literature,  or  Art.  His  fine  portrait  by 
Sustermans  in  the  Lucca  picture  -  gallery  depicts 
him  in  his  dress  as  a  cardinal,  and  was  taken  when 
he  was  about  thirty- three  years  old.  He  has  the 
long  hair  and  curls  usually  associated  in  our  minds 
with  the  cavaliers  of  that  period  in  England. 

1  Plate  XCI.  »  Napier. 


ri.ATE  xc. 


.MATTIA>.     rillKI)    >(i\     l>\     1(1-1  Ml 

li\'  Sii>ti'riii;iii-. 


Alinari] 


'  I'llli  <;,iU,r,i. 


PLATE  XCr. 


Brogi] 


GIOVANNI    CARLO,    SKI  UNI)    .SUN     UK    (  USI.MU     II. 

By  Sustermans. 


[Litcca  Gallery. 


xxvni.]  PRINCE   LEOPOLD  435 

But  the  most  capable  of  all  the  five 
brothers  was  the  youngest,  Prince  ^^''P''^^ 
I^eopold,^  who  had  the  charge  of  political  affairs, 
but  whose  talents  and  enthusiasm  in  the  cause 
of  Art  and  Science  caused  these  latter  subjects 
to  be  his  principal  sphere  of  activity.  It  is 
strange  that  this  eminently  capable  man,  who  by 
his  ability  and  energy  produced  such  important 
and  lasting  effects  for  the  renown  of  Florence, 
should  have  been  consigned  to  almost  complete 
oblivion.  By  most  he  is,  if  known  at  all,  only 
known  as  the  originator  of  the  collection  of  portraits 
of  the  painters  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  His  important 
work  of  not  only  founding  the  celebrated  scientific 
society  of  the  "  Cimento,"  but  leading  it  during  the 
whole  of  its  brilliant  career,  has  won  for  him  no 
credit,  his  name  even  being  scarcely  mentioned  in 
connection  with  that  society.  His  valuable  work 
in  assisting  the  cause  of  Literature  has  been  equally 
unrecognised.  Above  all,  it  is  to  Leopold  that  the 
world  chiefly  owes  the  two  great  picture-galleries 
of  the  Uffizi  and  the  Pitti,  of  which  Florence  is  so 
justly  proud  ;  and  for  this  achievement  alone  his 
name  deserves  to  be  rescued  from  the  obscurity 
into  which  it  has  been  allowed  to  sink.  He  was  a 
worthy  successor  of  those  earlier  members  of  the 
family  who  had  done  so  much  for  T^earniiig  and 
Art  in  the  fifteenth  century.  And  he  was  the 
last  of  this  fjunily  who  showed  tliat  exceptional 
ability  for  which  it  had  for  nearly  three  centuries 
been  noted. 

Leopold  corresponded  with  all  the  leading  men 

'   lie  (lid  not  become  a  caniiual  until  three  years  before  tlie  end  o/' 
Ferdinand  Il.'s  reign. 


436  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

of  science  and  professors  of  the  fine  arts  through- 
out Europe ;  his  critical  taste  and  knowledge  in 
all  matters  relating  to  Art  and  Literature  were 
proverbial ;  while  in  Science  he  had  not  only  been 
one  of  Galileo's  chief  pupils,  but  also  his  abilities 
and  ardour  in  that  study  made  him  the  natural 
leader  of  the  band  of  men  who  had  been  influenced 
by  Galileo's  researches  and  were  anxious  to  carry 
still  further  the  scientific  enquiries  which  the  latter 
had  inaugurated.  The  fine  portrait  of  Leopold^ 
depicts  him  in  the  dress  of  a  cardinal,  and  was 
therefore  painted  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  as 
he  did  not  become  a  cardinal  until  1667,  by  which 
time  he  was  fifty  years  of  age.  He  holds  in  his 
hand  one  of  the  many  letters  on  the  subject  of 
Art  or  Science  which  he  was  constantly  receiving 
from  his  numerous  correspondents  scattered  about 
Europe. 

Ferdinand,  who  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  most  cultured  ruler  of  his  time  in  Europe, 
took  as  keen  an  interest  in  all  scientific,  literary, 
and  artistic  matters  as  his  brothers,  Giovanni  Carlo 
and  Leopold.  And  these  three  INledici  brothers, 
owing  to  their  eagerness  in  this  cause,  and  the 
influence  which  their  position  and  wealth  gave 
them,  were  at  this  period  the  leading  men  in 
Florence  in  all  that  pertained  to  Science,  Litera- 
ture, or  Art. 

Ferdinand's    gradual    emancipation   from 

the  ecclesiastical  domination  which   had 

so  seriously  marred  the   earlier  part  of  his  reign, 

begins  to  show  itself  about  the  time  of  the  death  of 

1  Plate  XCII, 


I'l.ATK  XCll. 


Jirooi] 


r,K(>i'(ii,i>.   iiiTii   SUN   oi'  cosrMo   II. 


[lyiz,  (.'al/,ri/. 


xxviii.]         THE   PHILOSOPHICAL   SOCIETY  4S7 

Galileo  in  1642,  about  which  time  we  see  the  initia- 
tion by  Ferdinand  of  a  movement,  due  to  the  seed 
sown  by  Galileo,  which  ere  long  had  great  results. 
Ferdinand  and  his  brothers,  who  had  all  been 
pupils  of  Galileo,  had  been  greatly  impressed,  not 
only  by  his  teaching,  but  still  more  by  the  illogical 
character  of  the  arguments  used  in  condemning 
his  theories,  and  they  were  profoundly  anxious 
to  initiate,  in  opposition  to  the  theories  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  a  system  of  deduction  of 
truth  from  the  observation  of  facts,  and  of  disper- 
sion of  error  by  the  force  of  experimental  know- 
ledge. As  the  first  step  in  this  direction,  and  as  a 
preliminary  attack  on  the  tyranny  over  thought 
exercised  by  the  ecclesiastics  and  on  the  false 
philosophy  which  they  propounded,  Ferdinand, 
when  he  was  thirty-two,  formed,  about  the  time 
of  Galileo's  death,  the  Conversazione  Filosojica  of 
the  Palace,^  a  society  which,  holding  its  meet- 
ings in  the  Grand  Ducal  palace  itself,  had  for  its 
members  all  the  ablest  literary  and  scientific  men 
of  the  day,  including  such  enlightened  men  as  the 
celebrated  Evangelista  Torricelli  da  Modigliana, 
Niccolo  Aggiunti,  Famiano  Michelini,  Viviani,- 
Marsili,  Uliva,  and  the  renowned  physician,  philo- 
sopher, and  poet,  Francesco  Redi.  From  the 
brilliant  talents  of  those  w4io  formed  its  members 
this  "  Philosophical  Society  of  the  Palace  "  gained 
wide  respect  from  all  interested  in  literature  and 
science, 

'  Thus  this  society  \\as  formed  l)y  Kerflinand  even  before  Pope 
Urban  Vlll.'s  death  relieved  him  from  the  antagonism  wliicli  that  I'ope 
showed  to  all  such  enquiries. 

-  Galileo  after  his  eondenmatioii  was  only  allowed  to  liave  one  pupil 
at  a  time,  and  \'i\  iani  was  this  pupil  at  the  time  of  (ialileo's  death, 
being  then  about  twenty  years  old. 


438  FERDINAND  II.  [chap. 

The  Tliis,  however,  was  but  the  preHminary 
cinieiito.  step  to  One  much  greater.  In  the  year 
1057,  when  Ferdinand  was  forty-seven,  there  was 
formed  under  his  patronage  by  his  talented  brother 
Prince  Leopold  the  celebrated  Accadcjiiia  del 
Cimento  (Academy  of  Experiment),  the  first  society 
for  eocperiments  in  natural  science  ever  formed  in 
JEurope,  and  one  which  became  the  model  for  all 
those  subsequently  established  in  England,  France, 
and  other  countries ;  and  this  new  Academy  held 
its  first  meeting  on  the  16th  June  1657  in  the  Grand 
Ducal  palace,  presided  over  by  its  founder.  Prince 
Leopold  de'  Medici,  then  forty  years  old.  Truly 
the  Pitti  Palace,  honoured  as  it  is  by  all  artists  for 
its  magnificent  picture-gallery,  should  be  no  less 
honoured  by  all  scientists  as  the  building  in  which 
originated  this  notable  event  in  the  world  of 
Science.  The  Royal  Society  of  England  was  not 
incorporated  until  1663,  and  the  French  Academy 
of  Science  not  until  1666;  so  that  Florence  in 
this  matter  also,  as  in  former  days  it  had  done  in 
Learning,  and  as  it  had  done  in  Art,  led  the  way. 
And  prominent  as  had  been  the  leadership  of  the 
Medici  as  to  Learning,  and  as  to  Art,  in  neither 
of  these  was  it  so  directly  marked  as  in  this  case 
of  Science.  Prince  Leopold,  both  as  an  earnest 
pupil  of  Gahleo,  and  on  account  of  his  own 
proficiency  in  science,  was  chosen  by  the  new 
society  as  the  proper  man  to  lead  it  as  its 
President. 

And  very  ably  he  did  so.  At  its  first  meeting 
the  society  ruled  that  its  fundamental  law  should 
be  that  no  special  school  of  philosophy  or  system 
of  science  should    be  adopted   by  it,  and  that   it 


xxviii.]  SOCIETY   OF  THE    CI  MEN  TO  439 

bound  itself  "  to  investigate  nature  by  the  pure 
light  of  experimental  facts";  also  that  the  society 
should  be  open  to  all  talent,  and  that  the  privilege 
of  selecting  the  experiments  to  be  made  should 
He  with  the  President.  It  adopted  as  its  motto, 
Provando  e  Riprovando.  Magalotti  was  chosen 
as  its  secretary ;  and  on  the  walls  of  the  entrance 
hall  of  the  present  National  Library  (in  the  Uffizi 
building)  are  to  be  seen  the  portraits  of  the  dis- 
tinguished   men   who   were   the  first   members  of 

o 

this  famous  society.^ 

Thus  took  place  the  first  case  on  record  of  the 
formation  of  a  society  purely  for  the  pursuit  of 
inductive  science,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  that 
new  philosophy  which  Galileo  had  inaugurated 
and  of  which  Bacon  was  to  be  the  chief  exponent. 
Ferdinand  took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  work 
of  the  new  society,  and  devised  several  of  the 
experiments,  among  others  the  suggestion  of  the 
use  of  the  expansion  of  liquids  for  thermometric 
purposes,  instead  of  the  air  of  Galileo's  thermo- 
scope.  The  results  of  the  experiments  made  by 
this  society  were  later  on  detailed  by  the  secretary, 
Magalotti,  and  were  published  in  Florence  in  1067, 
imder  the  title,  "  Sag^i  di  ncdurali  esperienze  fatte 
neir  Accademia  del  Cimento  "  ("  Results  of  experi- 
ments in  natural  science  made  by  the  Academy 
of  the  Cimento  ") ;  and  a  Latin  translation  of  this 
work  was  publislied  at  Leyden  in  1731  by  Yon 
Musschenbrock.  Regarding  these  results  of  this 
society's  work  a  scientist  of  our  own  day  remarks  : — 
'•  Many  of  these  experiments  are  classics  in  the 
history  of  science." 

^  There  is  a  second  set  of  tlieir  portraits  in  a  book  of  portraits  in 
the  Marucelliau  Library. 


440  FEllDINAND  II.  [c"ap. 

But  Leopold  was  not  only  fitted  to  be  the 
President  of  such  a  society  through  his  scientific 
attainments.  His  gifts  of  character  enabled  him 
to  guide  smoothly  a  community  of  men  of  very 
diverse  idiosyncrasies  who,  however  talented  they 
were  as  scientists,  were  no  freer  from  the  frailties 
of  jealousy  and  envy,  vanity  and  self-conceit,  than 
commoner  mortals.  And  his  gifts  in  this  direction 
received  a  remarkable  testimony.  The  new  society 
pursued  an  energetic  and  brilliant  career  for  ten 
years.  Then  Leopold,  his  brother  Giovanni  Carlo 
having  died,  was  made  a  cardinal  in  his  place,  and 
had  to  resign  his  presidency  of  the  society.  The 
removal  of  the  guiding  spirit  which  had  known 
how  to  make  all  the  members  work  together  for 
a  common  object  had  immediate  results  which 
showed  how  considerable  his  gifts  were  in  this 
respect,  no  less  than  in  the  scientific  direction. 
For  the  society  of  the  Cimento,  which  in  its  short 
career  of  ten  years  had  won  renown  all  over 
Europe,  had  a  sudden  and  dramatic  end.^  Napier 
relates  that  upon  I^^opold's  retirement  from  the 
leadership  of  the  society,  "the  clashing  pre- 
tensions of  irascible  genius  burst  forth,  and  blew 
the  assembly  to  atoms ;  its  fragments,  still  bright 
and  precious.  Were  eagerly  gathered  up  by  foreign 
nations,  and  made  the  corner-stones  of  steadier 
institutions."^  It  was  an  epitome  of  all  Florentine 
history.  \Vithout  the  leadership  of  one  particular 
family  w^hich  alone  of  all  the  Tuscan  race  possessed 
a  special  gift  for  calming  discord  and  inducing 
antagonistic  natures  to  work  harmoniously  together, 

^  JMagalotti,  the  secrefciry,  when   the  society  broke  up  l)ecame  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Eiiijland,  then  just  founded. 
^  Napier's  Florentine  Uhtori/,  » ol.  v.  p.  486, 


xxviii]         THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  PALACE  441 

and  whose  possession  of  this  valuable  quality, 
demonstrated  in  many  generations  of  this  family 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  was  here  exhibited 
for  the  last  time,  internecine  conflict  ever  robbed 
the  talent  and  genius  of  the  Florentine  race  of  its 
crown  and  flower  of  success.  None  but  a  Medici 
could  ever  steer  the  bark  of  Florentine  genius  safe 
to  port  and  keep  it  from  wrecking  itself  upon  the 
rock  of  fratricidal  strife. 

Ferdinand  and  his  brothers  Giovanni  ^he 

Carlo  and  Leopold  were  no  less  active  Palatine 
in  the  cause  of  Literature  than  in  that 
of  Science.  By  tliem  was  formed  with  diligent 
labour  the  "  Palatine  Library  "  (or  Library  of  the 
Palace),  which  now  forms  the  chief  part  ^  of  the 
National  Library  of  the  Uffizi,  and  contains  four- 
teen thousand  manuscript  books  and  over  two 
hundred  thousand  printed  books.  The  treasures 
of  this  library,  though  not  so  great  as  those 
of  the  older  Medici  library  founded  by  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae,  are  still  very  considerable.  It  pos- 
sesses over  three  hundred  volumes  of  letters  and 
papers  of  Galileo  and  his  most  distinguished  con- 
temporaries, including  his  celebrated  Discom\ses 
and  Mdthcmdtiad  Demondratious,  and  his  treatise 
called  The  Dialogues  which  brought  upon  him  the 
wrath  of  Pope  Urban  VI I L  ;  also  an  interesting 
letter  from  his  favourite  pupil  ^^iviani,  pro\  ing  that 
Galileo  was  the  flrst  to  apply  the  principle  of  the 

'  To  it  tlie  Ma^lialiecchimi  Library  (cliap.  xxix.)  was  afterwards 
added,  tl>e  two  together  fbrniinj^r  tlie  present  National  l^iltiary.  But 
the  Magliabecchian  Library  only  added  thirty  thousand  out  of  the  total 
of  two  hundred  thousand  printed  luuiks,  and  none  of  the  uianuscriiit 
books. 


442  FERDINAND   11.  [chap. 

penciiilum  to  the  clock.  Among  the  illuminated 
books  is  a  missal,  once  the  property  of  the  Emperor 
Otho  III.  (983-1002),  with  his  name  written  in  it; 
also  another  missal  with  very  interesting  medallions 
in  enamel.  A  Bible  which  belonged  to  Savonarola 
has  his  comments  written  in  the  margin,  and  in  so 
fine  a  hand  that  a  magnifying-glass  is  required  to 
decipher  them.  A  scrap-book  of  Ghiberti's  con- 
tains notes  and  sketches  by  himself  and  other 
artists  of  his  time.  The  library  also  contains  auto- 
graph letters  of  Boccaccio,  Politian,  Machiavelli, 
Michelangelo,  Tasso,  Alfieri,  Redi,  and  many  other 
celebrated  men.  Also  a  valuable  manuscript  edition 
of  Petrarch's  works  ;  and  a  copy  of  Dante's  Divine 
Comedy,  written  only  fifty  years  after  his  death, 
and  illustrated  with  very  curious  miniatures  and 
a  profile  portrait  of  Dante  himself.  A  copy  of  the 
AntJwlogia  has  a  frontispiece  of  the  most  beautifully 
executed  miniatures  and  small  medallions,  painted 
in  1499.  A  copy  of  the  Pandects  of  Justinian, 
made  by  order  of  the  Signoria  when  the  original 
was  removed  to  Rome  by  Leo  X.,  has  beautiful 
illuminations  executed  by  Boccardini.  The  Latin 
Bible  of  St  Jerome,  in  two  volumes,  has  a 
miniature  of  him  on  the  first  page,  and  in  the 
margins  beautiful  little  drawings  of  landscapes 
with  deer.  .  Raymond  LuUi's  rare  book  on  alchemy 
and  magic  has  beautifully  painted  illustrations 
with  charming  landscape  backgrounds.  Another 
curious  book  is  the  Miracles  of  the  Madonna, 
a  very  rare  Portuguese  work,  Mdth  illustrations 
of  an  Eastern  character.  A  fine  copy  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible,  printed  in  1488,  is  the  first  edition 
ever    printed    in   that   language.     The   poems   of 


XXVIII.]  IJTERARY   TREASURES  443 

Belliiicioiii,  printed  in  1493,  another  very  rare 
work,  has  notes  in  the  margin  by  tiie  critical 
Accademia  della  Crusca.  The  Latin  poem  of 
the  CoJivencvole,  describing  the  corrupt  state  of 
rehgion  in  the  fourteenth  century,  an  exceedingly 
rare  work  owing  to  its  censures  against  the  Church 
causing  it  to  be  destroyed  wherever  possible,  has 
curious  miniatures  in  which  the  angels  are  repre- 
sented behind  walls  with  the  swallow-tailed  battle- 
ments of  the  Ghibelline  party,  wliile  the  people 
are  behind  square,  Guelph,  battlements.  Another 
notable  book  is  the  ///  tria  Vergilii  Opera  Eoo- 
positio,  by  Servius,  being  the  first  book  ever 
printed  in  Florence  (1477) ;  it  was  printed  by 
the  Florentine  goldsmith  Cennini,  who  cast  his 
own  type  after  seeing  the  results  of  printing  in 
Germany,  and  on  the  title-page  commemorates 
his  invention.  The  first  printed  copy  of  Homer, 
printed  on  vellum,  and  presented  by  the  editor. 
Bernardo  Nerh,  to  Pietro  the  Unfortunate  at 
the  time  of  the  latter's  marriage  in  1488,  has 
in  it  a  portrait  in  miniature  of  Pietro  himself 
at  the  age  of  seventeen.^  One  of  the  first 
attempts  at  printing  with  mo\'able  types  is  a  copy 
of  Durando's  Rationale  J)ivino?'um  OJficiorum,  a 
work  explaining  the  origin  of  the  various  cere- 
monies of  the  Church,  which  went  through  forty- 
eight  editions.  The  copy  of  the  Divine  Comedy, 
wdth  commentaries  by  Cristoforo  Landino  (bound 
in  red  and  white  leather  ornamented  with  Landino's 
arms),  which  was  presented  by  him  to  the  Signoria 
in   1481.  has  fine  miniatures,  and  among  them  a 

1  This  portrait  thoroufrlily  corroliorates  that  by  Botticelli  shown  iu 
Plate  XXVII.,  as  it  is  evidently  the  same  face  at  a  more  youthful  age. 


444  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

portrait  of  Dante  himself.  The  above  give  some 
idea  of  the  many  rare  and  interesting  books 
contained  in  the  splendid  library  which  Ferdinand 
and  his  two  brothers  formed. 

The  But    by    far    the    most    important    me- 

ufazi  morial  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  II.  was 
Pitti  made  in  the  domain  of  Art.  Francis  I. 
Galleries,  ^j^^  Ferdinand  I.  had  begun  placing 
some  of  the  family  pictures  in  the  rooms  con- 
structed by  them  over  the  offices  of  the  Uffizi ; 
but  as  yet  there  was  nothing  there  which  could 
be  called  a  regular  picture  -  gallery,  while  the 
rooms  up  to  this  time  consisted  only  of  a  few 
opening  from  the  eastern  portion  of  the  corridor. 
But  in  the  latter  part  of  Ferdinand  II.'s  reign, 
at  the  suggestion  of  Prince  Leopold,  the  two 
brothers  Giovanni  Carlo  and  Leopold,  both  of 
whom  possessed  very  large  collections  of  pictures 
of  their  own  (irrespective  of  those  which  were  the 
general  property  of  the  family)  besides  numerous 
other  objects  of  art,  gave  the  whole  of  their 
collections  to  form  the  two  galleries  of  the  Pitti 
and  the  Uffizi,  those  belonging  to  Giovanni  Carlo 
being  chiefly  made  to  form  the  gallery  in  the 
Grand  Ducal  palace  itself^  (the  Pitti  Gallery),  and 
those  belonging  to  Leopold  to  form  the  Uffizi 
Gallery.  At  the  same  time  Ferdinand  added  to 
these  the  general  collection  of  pictures  which  he 
had  inherited  as  head  of  the  family,  as  well  as 
those  which  he  had  acquired  fi'om  Urbino  with 
his  wife,  Vittoria  della  Rovere. 

^  The  official  designation  of  the  Pitti  Gallery  is  still  the  '' Galleria 
Palatina "  (Gallery  of  the  Palace)^  which  name  may  be  seen  over 
several  of  the  doors. 


XXVIII. ]  LEOrOLD'S  ART  COLLECTIONS  44,5 

To  house  this  great  collection  of  pictures,  to 
which  many  other  objects  of  art  were  added  by 
each  of  the  brothers,  not  even  the  spacious  Grand 
Ducal  palace  ^  could  give  sufficient  accommoda- 
tion, and  it  therefore  became  necessary  to  largely 
extend  the  gallery  constructed  over  the  offices  of 
the  Uffizi.  This  was  nearly  trebled  in  size,  the 
corridor  being  extended  all  along  the  western  side, 
and  additional  rooms  being  added  on  that  side. 
Ferdinand  also,  among  other  objects  of  art,  added 
the  whole  of  the  valuable  collection  of  gems, 
rare  vases,  and  other  valuable  articles  now  kept 
in  the  Gem  Room,  which  was  at  the  same  time 
constructed  for  this  purpose.  Leopold  not  only 
originated  the  proposal  for  the  formation  of 
these  two  galleries  and  contributed  the  largest 
share  of  the  pictures  (other  than  those  already 
belonging  to  the  family),  but  he  also  conducted 
all  the  arrangements  necessary  to  form  the  gallery 
of  the  Uffizi.  At  the  same  time  he  began  the 
collection  of  the  portraits  of  tlie  painters  of 
all  nations,  which  now  fills  four  rooms  of  that 
gallery.  All  the  portraits  of  the  oldest  masters 
he  obtained,  some  from  the  Academy  of  St 
Luke  at  Rome  (among  which  was  the  portrait 
of  Raphael),  and  others  as  the  result  of  a  long 
and  careful  search  made  by  him  throughout 
Italy  for  any  portraits  of  them  whicli  could  be 
found  ;   and  to  these  he  added  those  of  the  chief 


^  Spacious  as  tho  Pitti  Palace  is  it  did  not  suffice  in  the  reigns  of  the 
later  Medici  Grand  Dukes,  and  the  I'alazzo  dolla  C'rocctta,  in  tlie  \'ia 
Ooloinia  (which  now  contains  tlie  Egyjttian.  the  Etruscan,  and  the 
'J  apestry  Museums)  was  maintained  as  a  ^ue>t-house  in  which  guests  at 
the  court  were  lodged  wlieu  the  Grand  Ducal  palace  was  too  full  to 
receive  them. 


446  FERDINAND    II.  [chap 

painters  of  his  own  tinie.^  Another  important 
item  in  his  contributions  to  the  Uffizi  Gallery 
was  the  valuable  collection  of  drawings  to  be 
seen  there,  which  took  him  many  years  to  collect. 
Most  of  the  pictures  in  the  \^enetian  room  he 
bought  through  a  Florentine  merchant,  Paolo  del 
Sera,  who  was  settled  at  Venice. 

The  above  action  on  the  part  of  Ferdinand 
and  his  two  brothers  is  the  real  formation  of  the 
Pitti  and  Uffizi  Galleries  as  we  now  know  them,^ 
Prince  Leopold's  artistic  possessions  being  much 
greater  than  those  of  his  brother.  Cardinal  Giovanni 
Carlo,  he  did  not  restrict  himself  only  to  the  Uffizi 
Gallery,  and  many  of  the  objects  of  art  to  be 
seen  in  the  Pitti  Gallery  were  also  given  by  him : 
notably  the  interesting  collection  of  miniatures  of 
important  historical  personages  of  his  time  made 
by  him  in  the  course  of  his  travels  through  Europe, 
now  in  the  "  Corridor  of  the  Columns,"  ^  in  the 
Pitti  Gallery,  which  miniatures  Leopold  valued 
so  highly  that  he  used  to  carry  them  with  him 
wherever  he  went.  He  also  gave,  among  other 
articles  of  the  kind,  the  rich  Stipo,  or  cabinet  of 
ebony,  enclosing  a  small  altar,  and  having  its  many 
doors  and  drawers  inlaid  with  precious  marbles 
and  curious  and  beautiful  designs  in  transparent 
stones,  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  one  of  the 

^  Since  then  painters  have  considered  it  an  honour  to  be  asked  to 
send  their  portraits  to  this  gallery,  so  that  the  collection  is  steadily 
increasing. 

-  More  pictures  were  afterwards  added  by  Cosimo  III.,  and  later 
on  also  those  obtained  from  cliurches  pulled  down  ;  but  the  great 
bulk  of  the  pictures  in  the  Uffizi  and  Pitti  Galleries  still  remain  those 
collected  there  by  Leopold  and  Giovanni  Carlo  and  their  brother 
Ferdinand  II. 

^  So  called  from  the  two  small  pillai's  of  Oriental  alabaster  placed 
iu  it. 


xxvni.J       UFFIZI   AND   PITTI   GALLERIES  447 

rooms,  and  which  after  he  became  a  cardinal  he 
occasionally  used  when  he  celebrated  Mass  in  the 
palace. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  Uffizi  and  Pitti 
Galleries  were  formed.  And  it  shows  what  the 
Medici  were  in  the  domain  of  Art,  that  they 
could,  even  in  their  decadence,  form  out  of  their 
private  collections  the  two  most  important  picture- 
galleries  in  Europe.^  These  two  galleries,  how- 
ever, were  not  as  yet  public  galleries,  but  simply, 
conjointly,  the  private  picture-gallery  of  the  Medici 
family.  It  was  to  remain  for  a  later  genera- 
tion of  that  family  to  make  them  the  property  of 
Tuscany.^ 

This  important  work  formed  the  occupation 
which  during  the  last  ten  years  of  Ferdinand's 
reign  chiefly  engaged  the  attention  of  Leopold  de' 
Medici.  And  it  was  fitting  that  this  truly  great 
man,  of  whom  we  never  hear  anything  but  what 
is  good,  and  who  wherever  we  meet  with  him  is 
always  engaged  either  in  works  of  charity,  or  in 
some  important  work  in  the  cause  of  Science, 
Literature,  or  Art,  should  be  commemorated  in 
that  gallery  whose  formation  was  the  last  and 
greatest  of  his  many  enliglitened  labours.  His 
statue^  has  fittingly  been  placed  in  the  room  in 
the  Uffizi  Gallery  containing  the  portraits  of  the 
greatest  masters  of  painting,  where  he  sits  sur- 
rounded by  the  portraits  of  those  of  whose  works 
he  was  the  largest  and  most  appreciative  collector 

^  Certainly  as  regards  quality^  if  not  also  as  regards  number  of 
pictures. 

^  Chap.  xxxi.  p.  501. 

^  Judging  by  his  portrait  (Plate  XCII.),  the  statue  does  not  do 
him  justice. 


448  FERDINAND   It  [chai*. 

ever  known.  Around  him  hang  the  portraits  of 
Belhni,  Perugino,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Filippino 
Lippi,  Michelangelo,  Giorgione,  Titian,  Raphael, 
Andrea  del  Sarto,  Guercino,  Tintoretto,  Velazquez, 
Rembrandt,  Van  Dyck,  and  many  another  of 
*'that  glorious  company."^ 

During  the  years  1649  - 1660  the  Common- 
wealth was  in  power  in  England,  and  in  the  Pitti 
Gallery  there  is  an  interesting  memento  of  this 
time.  When  the  persecution  of  the  Waldensian 
Protestants'  was  at  its  height,  Oliver  Cromwell 
sent  a  message  to  Pope  Alexander  VII.  that  if 
these  cruelties  were  not  promptly  stopped  he 
would  send  the  English  fleet  into  the  Tiber  to 
exact  retribution ;  which  message  forthwith  pro- 
duced an  order  from  the  Pope  to  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  to  desist.  Ferdinand  was  so  struck  with 
admiration  of  Cromwell's  action  that  he  sent  a 
request  to  the  latter  that  he  would  allow  his 
portrait  to  be  painted  for  him  by  Sir  Peter  Lely. 
Cromwell  acquiesced,  and  added  that  he  would 
himself  present  Ferdinand  with  it.  And  in  due 
time  the  portrait  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  presented  by 
him  to  Ferdinand,  and  painted  by  Sir  Peter  Lely, 
arrived,  and  was  placed  with  Ferdinand's  other 
pictures  in  the  family  gallery,  where  it  still  hangs. 

Ferdinand  during  his  reign  initiated  various 
experiments  with  the  object  of  im.proving  the  agri- 
cultural and  commercial  prospects  of  the  country, 
and  one  of  these,  though  it  did  not  produce  the 

^  Written  before  the  recent  unfortunate  alteration  in  the  arranjje- 
ment  of  the  rooms  containing  the  portraits  of  the  painters,.(1910). 
^  The  persecution  which  called  forth  Milton's  well-kno^u  poem. 


XXVIII.]  INTRODUCTION   OF   CAMELS  449 

results  he  hoped,  still  survives,  and  is  of  con- 
siderable interest.  This  was  his  endeavour  to 
introduce  camels  into  Tuscany,  as  being  hardier 
and  less  expensive  to  keep  than  horses.  They  were 
imported  from  India,  and  tried  in  various  places  in 
Tuscany.  Unfortunately,  however,  it  was  found 
that  the  climate  and  conditions  of  the  country  did 
not  suit  them.  Only  at  one  place  did  they  con- 
tinue to  thrive,  namely,  in  the  Grand  Ducal  park 
at  San  Rossore,  about  three  miles  from  Pisa,  where 
they  may  still  be  seen,  the  herd  numbering  about 
two  hundred,  and  being  employed  chiefly  in  carry- 
ing wood. 

In  1660^  (the  year  that  in  England  Charles  II. 
regained  his  throne)  a  second  son  was  born  to 
Ferdinand  and  Vittoria,  eighteen  years  after  the 
birth  of  their  eldest  son,  Cosimo.  He  was  given 
the  name  of  Francesco  Maria.  Though  the  evil 
effects  of  a  monkish  style  of  bringing-up  were  by 
this  time  making  themselves  strongly  apparent  in 
their  eldest  son,  and  though  Ferdinand  showed 
that  he  was  fully  aware  of  the  error  by  spasmodic 
attempts  to  retrieve  it,  yet  he  allowed  the  same 
style  of  training  to  be  given  by  the  boy's  mother 
to  this  second  son,  Ferdinand  perhaps  acquiesc- 
ing for  fear  of  again  disturbing  the  comparative 
domestic  peace  which  had,  after  so  many  years  of 
discord,  only  so  recently  been  established.  In  the 
case  of  Francesco  Maria  the  effects  were  of  less 
importance,  as  he  was  not  called  upon  to  rule, 
and  was  from  the  first  intended  for  an  ecclesiastical 
career. 

1  In  the  previous  year  Ferdinand  sold  the  Medici  Palace  in  the  Via 
Larga  to  the  Riccardi  family. 

VOL.    II.  2   F 


450  FERDINAND  II.  [chap. 

In  1661  Cosimo,  Ferdinand's  eldest  son,  being 
now  nineteen,  arrangements  for  his  marriage  were 
taken  in  hand.  Under  the  kind  of  bringing-up 
which  he  had  received  he  had  developed  into  a 
gloomy  and  disagreeable  youth,  sunk  in  bigotry 
and  superstition,  unmanly,  awkward,  hating  all 
society,  shunning  as  impious  everything  connected 
with  science  or  philosophy,  an  enemy  to  all  cheerful- 
ness, detesting  music,  art,  poetry,  and  the  conversa- 
tion of  learned  men,  equally  disliking  all  manly 
exercises,  sullen  and  ill-tempered,  and  only  at  his 
ease  in  the  society  of  friars  and  monks.  Ferdinand 
thought  to  cure  this  by  marriage ;  but  while  it 
was  obvious  that  to  find  a  wife  suitable  for  such 
a  youth  would  be  a  difficult  task,  if  all  Europe 
had  been  searched  none  more  unsuitable  could 
have  been  found  than  the  one  who  was  selected. 

The    Princess    Marguerite    Louise    of 

Louise  Orleans,    then     sixteen,     daughter     of 

-  ,  "^  ,,>        Gaston,   Duke    of    Orleans,   and    first 

Orleans  (1).  _      '  _ 

cousin  of  Louis  XIV.  (who  had  suc- 
ceeded Louis  XIII.  in  1643),  had  been  brought  up 
as  the  future  Queen  of  France.  She  was  lively, 
beautiful,  clever,  highly  accomplished,  fuU  of 
French  espieglefie,  brilliant  in  conversation,  fond 
of  riding  and  hunting,  detested  all  gravity  and 
melancholy,  and  was,  in  short,  the  exact  opposite 
of  Cosimo  in  every  particular.  To  crown  all,  she 
was  deeply  in  love  with  the  young  Prince  Charles 
of  Lorraine,^  to  whom,  when  the  plan  of  her  marry- 
ing  Louis    XIV.  fell  through,  she  had   hoped  to 

1  There  is  a  portrait  of  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  (at  a  later  age) 
by  Sustermans  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery. 


XXVIII.]  MARGUERITE    LOUISE  451 

be  married.  Her  mother,  the  widowed  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  wished  it,  and  was  opposed  to  her 
daughter  being  given  to  Prince  Cosimo  of  Tuscany  ; 
but  her  children  were  left  by  Duke  Gaston  under 
the  King's  charge,  the  schemes  of  Cardinal  Mazarin 
brought  the  King's  authority  to  bear,^  and  the  un- 
happy girl  was  given  her  choice  of  this  marriage 
or  a  convent.  After  being  married  by  proxy  in 
the  chapel  of  the  Louvre  in  April  1661,  she 
travelled  to  Marseilles,  where  she  was  met  by 
Prince  Mattias  and  escorted  by  him  to  Leghorn 
and  thence  to  Florence,  the  whole  journey  from 
Leghorn  to  Florence  being  made  a  brilliant 
pageant,  all  that  wealth  and  taste  could  devise 
being  employed  to  give  it  splendour.  But 
Marguerite  Louise  had  left  her  heart  behind  her 
in  France,  and  hated  all  things  Italian.  She  was 
received  at  Florence  with  great  festivities,  the 
Palace  was  turned  into  a  scene  of  enchantment, 
and  every  device  was  put  forth  to  give  her 
pleasure,  but  under  the  circumstances  this  was 
impossible ;  her  broken  heart,  and  the  natural 
disgust  which  she  felt  for  the  monk-like  and  un- 
attractive Cosimo,  prevented  her  taking  pleasure 
in  anything;  despair  and  a  settled  melancholy 
seized  upon  her,  and  every  proposal  for  her 
entertainment  was  met  only  by  bitter  sarcasm. 
Shortly  after  the  marriage  Prince  Charles  of 
I^orraine  paid  a  visit  to  Florence,  which  made 
matters  worse,  and  after  his  departure  Marguerite 
Louise  no  longer  made  any  attempt  to  conceal 
her   detestation   of  her   position,    of  Florence,   of 

1  Cardinal  Mazarin  died  after  the  marriag-e  had  been  settled  ujion, 
but  before  it  had  t^iken  place  ;  but  this  did  not  stop  the  marria<'-e 
as  Marguerite  Louise  and  her  mother  had  at  first  hoped  it  might  do. 


452  FERDINAND  II.  [chap. 

the  Tuscan  court,  and  of  everything  in  Italy. 
She  refused  to  learn  tlie  Italian  language,  and 
sent  urgent  prayers  to  the  King  of  France  to  be 
allowed  to  enter  a  convent  rather  than  remain  in 
Tuscany ;  and  neither  the  endeavours  of  her  father- 
in-law  to  assuage  her  misery,  nor  the  threats  of 
Louis  XIV.,  nor  the  efforts  of  his  Ministers  to 
smooth  matters,  had  any  effect  in  producing  a 
change  in  her  conduct.  There  is  an  interesting 
relic  still  in  Florence  of  these  dead  -  and  -  gone 
troubles  of  the  poor  cruelly-treated  bright  French 
princess,  Marguerite  Louise.  Some  years  ago 
two  of  the  silver  coins  in  the  collection  of  coins 
in  the  Archaeological  Museum,  which  bore  the  head 
of  Ferdinand  II.,  were  discovered  to  be  hollow, 
and  to  be  in  reality  boxes ;  and  in  one  of  these 
was  a  miniature  of  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  in 
his  youth,  believed  to  have  been  concealed  in 
this  manner  by  Marguerite  Louise  so  that  she 
might  wear  it  without  detection ;  which  had  been 
the  cause  of  its  becoming  lost. 

In  January  1663  Cardinal  Giovanni  Carlo  died 
at  the  age  of  fifty-two.  His  death  was  felt  to 
be  a  great  loss,  both  to  the  family  and  to  the 
country,  owing  to  his  ability  in  public  affairs,  his 
varied  talents,  and  his  agreeable  disposition.^     In 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  Wlien  his  coffin  was 
opened  in  1857  it  was  found  perfectly  undisturbed  by  any  thieves,  as 
also  was  the  case  with  all  those  of  the  family  who  had  been  cardinals. 
"The  body  was  dressed  in  the  pontifical  vestments^  with  an  alb 
trimmed  with  rich  lace^  and  a  chasuble  of  cloth  of  gold  and  violet  silk  ; 
on  the  head  the  mitre,  and  at  the  feet  the  cardinal's  red  hat ;  on  the 
breast  was  a  gold  cross  set  with  emeralds  and  rubies,  and  a  rosary  of 
blood-red  jasper  ;  by  his  side  a  staff  covered  with  red  velvet  and  having 
tassels  of  gold."  A  leaden  plate  at  his  head  bore  a  long  Latin  inscrip- 
tion of  twenty-eight  lines,  giving  his  name  and  detailing  his  great  talents 
and  many  good  qualities.  (Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the 
Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 


xxviii.]  DOMESTIC   TURMOILS  453 

the  following  year  hostilities  threatened  to  break 
out  between  France  and  Pope  Alexander  VII. 
and  to  bring  war  into  Tuscany,  both  sides  having 
assembled  their  forces  on  her  frontiers ;  but  the 
dispute  was  at  the  last  moment  settled  by  a  con- 
ference which  was  held  at  Pisa,  presided  over  by 
Ferdinand,  always  at  his  best  as  a  peacemaker. 

But  all  international  politics  were  Marguerite 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  quarrels  ^o"^^®  (2). 
between  Prince  Cosimo  and  his  young  wife, 
which  turned  the  Tuscan  court  upside  down.  A 
son  (who  was  named  Ferdinand)  was  born  to 
this  ill-assorted  pair  in  August  1663,  but  the 
explosions  and  turmoils  still  went  on.  At  one 
time  Marguerite  Louise,  wishing  herself  dead, 
would  neither  eat  anything  nor  speak  to  any  one  ; 
at  another  she  poured  forth  volumes  of  the  most 
cutting  ridicule  on  every  one  connected  with  the 
court,  so  that  none  dared  go  near  her  for  fear  of 
her  biting  and  sarcastic  wit.  The  Due  de  Crecquy, 
Louis  XIV.'s  ambassador  to  the  Pope,  was  ordered 
on  his  return  journey  from  Rome  to  visit  Florence 
and  endeavour  to  bring  the  Princess  Marguerite 
Louise  to  a  better  mind ;  but  after  a  few  days  "  he 
gave  up  the  attempt  in  despair  and  returned  to 
the  less  puzzling  affairs  of  State  policy."  A  second 
special  ambassador  sent  from  France  met  with  like 
success.  Then  Madame  du  Deffant,  who  had  been 
the  governess  of  the  Princess,  was  despatched  on 
the  same  errand,  and  after  a  toilsome  journey  from 
Paris  arrived  at  Florence  armed  with  copious 
instructions  from  Louis  XIV.  as  to  the  arginiicnts 
she  was  to  employ.  But  all  were  equally  scorned 
by  the   young   P'rench   princess  who,  brought  up 


454  FERDINAND    II.  [chap. 

to  admire  all  tluit  was  bright  and  gay  and  noble 
in  life,  and  in  love  with  one  who  fulfilled  these 
ideals,  had  been  handed  over  to  such  a  fate  as 
marriage  to  the  gloomy  and  contemptible  Cosimo. 
The  written  threats  of  the  King  of  France,  the 
arguments  of  French  ambassadors,  the  persuasive 
exhortations  of  her  governess,  even  the  authority 
of  the  Pope,  were  all  alike  powerless  to  make 
Marguerite  Louise  more  ready  to  endure  her 
lot.  At  length  she  could  stand  the  court  no 
longer  and  retreated  to  Poggio  a  Caiano,  whence 
she  sent  a  message  to  Cosimo  that  if  he  dared  to 
come  there  he  would  have  a  missal  thrown  at  his 
head.  After  a  little  time,  however,  she  repented 
herself  of  this  move,  suddenly  reappeared  at  the 
Palace,  flung  herself  into  her  father-in-law's  arms, 
and  acknowledged  herself  in  the  wrong ;  and  for  a 
time  the  court  had  a  little  peace. 

In  June  1666  Ferdinand's  uncle.  Cardinal  Carlo 
de'  Medici,  the  last  of  Cosimo  II.'s  brothers,^  died 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  He  had  lived  almost 
all  his  life  at  Rome,  was  Deacon  of  the  Sacred 
College,  and  had  long  been  a  person  of  consider- 
able importance  at  the  Vatican.  His  body  was 
brought  to  Florence,  and  buried  in  San  Lorenzo.^ 

^  See  Appendix  XII. 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened^  the  body  was  found  "  vested  as  a  cardinal  in  a  crimson 
satin  robe,  with  on  the  head  his  cardinal's  mitre,  and  the  red  hat  at  his 
feet.  On  the  breast  was  a  handsome  cross,  which  opened  in  the  middle 
with  a  spring,  and  contained  various  relics  ;  it  was  enamelled  on  the 
back  in  white,  with  the  figure  of  the  Redeemer  in  black,  and  on  the 
front  was  set  with  five  topaz  and  eight  emeralds  ;  this  was  a  master- 
piece of  enamel  work.  On  the  finger  of  the  right  hand  was  a  large 
episcopal  ring  with  an  oval-shaped  emerald,  and  round  the  ring  white 
enamel  inside,  and  outside  small  green  and  red  flowers.  This  also  was 
an  admirable  piece  of  Avork."  {Official  Report  on  t/ie  examination  of  the 
Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 


XXVIII.]  DEATH   OF   MATTIAS  455 

In  the  following  year  Pope  Alexander  VII.  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Clement  IX.  (1667-1670). 
Both  the  cardinals  of  the  JMedici  family  having 
died  during  the  preceding  four  years  the  new 
Pope  now  made  Prince  Leopold,  by  this  time  fifty 
years  old,  a  cardinal  in  the  place  of  his  brother,  Gio- 
vanni Carlo.  In  this  same  year  (1667)  Ferdinand's 
brother,  the  successful  soldier  Mattias,  died  at  the 
age  of  fifty-four  at  Siena,  of  which  city  he  had 
for  many  years  been  Governor,  and  where  he  was 
much  liked.  He  never  married,  and  w^as  thus  the 
third  of  Ferdinand's  brothers  who  had  died  leaving 
no  children.  His  body  was  brought  to  Florence, 
and  buried  (hke  all  those  at  this  time)  in  the  New 
Sacristy  of  San  Lorenzo,  waiting  until  the  family 
mausoleum  was  sufficiently  completer"  tor  them  to 
be  interred  there. ^ 

In  the  same  year  that  Prince  Leopold  was 
made  cardinal,  and  that  Prince  Mattias  died,  the 
quarrels  between  the  Princess  Marguerite  Louise 
and  the  monkish  and  irritable  youth  to  whom 
she  had  been  married  again  developed  into  an 
open  rupture.  Sent  to  the  family  palace  at  Pisa, 
Marguerite  Louise  was  kept  there  by  Cosimo  as  a 
sort  of  prisoner,  and  prevented  from  holding  any 
communication  with  the  outside  world.     Finding 

^  He  is  buried  iu  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened,  the  body  was  found  "  clad  in  the  great  cloak  of  a  Knight 
of  Malta,  and  below  this  a  doublet  of  black  velvet,  cloth  breeches,  and 
velvet  boots  laced  with  many  ribl)ons.  At  his  feet  was  his  felt  hat  with 
a  high  crown  and  broad  brim.  Sewn  on  the  breast  of  the  doublet  was  a 
gold  medallion,  on  which  was  on  one  side  the  effigy  of  Pope  Clement  IX., 
and  on  the  other  the  Paschal  Lamb  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  the 
words,  Ipse  dominus  posi<e.sdo  ejus."  A  leaden  plate  inside  the  coffin 
bore  liis  name  and  titles,  and  stated  that  he  was  a  general,  and 
had  won  much  distinction  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  in  the 
campaigns  in  Italy.  {Official  Report  on  the  exaniination  of  the  Tombs  in 
the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 


456  FERDINAND   II.  [chap. 

her  circumstances  becoming  thus  ever  more  in- 
tolerable, and  that  she  could  get  no  help  from 
her  relatives  in  France,  she  evolved  the  idea  of 
escape  from  the  contemptible  Cosimo  by  joining 
a  party  of  gipsies,  with  whom  she  was  discovered 
one  night  settling  all  the  arrangements  from  a 
window  of  the  palace  at  Pisa  ;  whereupon  that 
mode  of  escape  was  made  impossible.  Soon  after- 
wards her  second  child  was  born,  a  daughter, 
named  Anna  Maria  Ludovica.  The  wild  projects 
and  immoderate  behaviour  into  which  Marguerite 
Louise  was  drawn  have  too  often  formed  a  subject 
merely  for  ridicule.  They  show  to  what  depths  of 
despair  this  once  bright,  clever,  and  accomplished 
girl  had  been  reduced  by  the  cruel  policy  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  Cardinal  Mazarin  in  forcing  her 
to  marry  one  so  infinitely  her  inferior  in  abilities, 
knowledge,  and  every  other  quality ;  and  her 
vagaries,  laughable  as  they  often  were,  should 
rather  excite  an  intense  pity,  since  (in  one  not 
by  any  means  wanting  in  ability)  they  showed 
how  deep  was  the  misery  which  she  suffered. 

The  aversion  which  Marguerite  Louise  enter- 
tained for  Cosimo  being  so  great,  and  travel  being 
the  best  means  for  enlarging  a  mind  so  narrow  as 
his,  Ferdinand  in  1667  very  wisely  sent  the  latter 
off  to  make  an  extended  tour  of  various  countries. 
It  had,  at  any  rate,  the  advantage  of  relieving 
Marguerite  Louise  of  his  presence  for  a  consider- 
able time,  and  during  his  absence  we  hear  of  no 
more  of  these  vagaries  on  her  part.  In  this  tour 
Cosimo  visited  Germany,  Holland,  Spain,  and 
Portugal ;    from    thence    endeavouring    to    reach 


xxvm.]  STRENGTH   AND   WEAKNESS  457 

England,  he  was  driven  by  a  storm  to  Ireland, 
where  "  he  was  astounded  at  the  wretched  condi- 
tion of  the  people,  whom  he  found  in  far  greater 
poverty  and  misery  than  those  of  Tuscany."  From 
Ireland  Cosimo  travelled  to  London,  and  thence 
passing  through   France,  returned  to  Florence  in 

1669  after  an  absence  of  two  years.  Ferdinand's 
health  had  for  some  time  been  failing ;  he  only  lived 
a  few  months  after  his  son's  return ;  and  in  May 

1670  the  fifth  Grand  Duke  passed  away  at  the 
age  of  sixty,  and  after  a  reign  of  fifty  years 
during  which  the  condition  of  Tuscany  had  been 
one  long  decline.  In  larger  politics  Ferdinand's 
sincere  and  successful  endeavour  to  preserve  peace 
in  Italy  was  the  distinguishing  feature  of  his  reign. 
He  was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  a  temporary 
grave  in  the  New  Sacristy  of  San  Lorenzo  pending 
the  completion  of  the  family  mausoleum.^ 

Ferdinand  II.  furnishes  a  strong  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  the  greatest  crime  of  which  one 
placed  in  any  position  of  authority  can  be  guilty 
is  weakjiess  ;  and  that  in  a  ruler  neither  immor- 
ality nor  even  ferocity  produce  such  an  amount  of 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened,  the  body  was  found  "clothed  in  the  c^reat  cloak  of  Grand 
Master  of  the  Order  of  San  Stefano,  and  under  this  a  velvet  coat  orna- 
mented with  rich  lace  ;  at  his  feet  a  large  hat  with  high  crown  and  a 
broad  brim  ;  and  at  his  riglit  side  a  sceptre  of  gilded  wood,  his  crown 
having  been  stolen.  On  the  cloak  and  on  the  breast  of  the  coat  were 
fastened  two  gold  medallions,  both  of  them  bearing  on  the  front  his 
portrait  and  name,  and  on  the  reverse  the  branch  of  a  rose-tree  with 
three  roses,  which  was  his  special  emblem,  and  tlie  motto  Gratia  ohvia, 
ultio  qitfit'.\ifn.  In  his  hand  was  a  rosary,  and  to  it  was  attached  another 
small  gold  medallion  with  a  re])r('s;>utation  of  the  Saviour  on  one  side 
and  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  the  other."  Near  his  head  was  a  leaden 
plate  with  a  long  inscription  giving  his  name  and  titles,  and  detailing 
his  deeds  and  virtues.  {Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the  Tuiiilin 
in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 


458 


FERDINAND   II. 


[chap.    XXVIII. 


misery  to  others  as  this  failing.     Ferdinand's  good 
qualities  are   patent   in   every  period   of  his  hfe ; 
his   kind   and   generous  disposition,  his  unselfish- 
ness, desire  to  do  good,  love  of  peace,  regard  for 
religion,  good  abilities,  and  energy  in  the  cause  of 
Science  and  Art,   all  these  are  conspicuous ;  but 
they  could  not  compensate  for  the  one  defect  of 
weakness.     Cosimo  I.,  with  all  his  murders,  cruel 
tyrannies,  and  deceitful  character,  made  Tuscany 
for  the  mass  of  the  people  a  happy  and  prosperous 
country ;  Ferdinand  II.,  with  all  his  goodness  of 
disposition   and   desire   to   do  right,   made  it  the 
most  degraded  and  misgoverned  country  in  Europe. 
And  the  root  of  these  opposite  results  lay  solely 
in   the   fact   that   the   former  was  a  strong  ruler 
and  the  latter  a  weak  one.     But  the  full  effect  of 
Ferdinand's  weakness  was  not  seen  till  the  next 


reiffn. 


Lion's  head  fountain  under  one  of  the  windows  of  the  Pitti  Palace, 
with  water  brought  from  Pratolino. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

COSIMO   III. 

Born  1642.     (Reigned  1670-1723.)     Died  1723. 

To  those  who  have  watched  the  many  illustrious 
achievements  of  this  family  during  a  course  of 
nearly  three  hundred  years  it  is  deplorable  indeed 
to  witness  the  rapid  descent  to  ignominy  which 
now  set  in.  Down  the  steep  path  fi'om  degrada- 
tion to  degradation  go  the  Medici ;  and  down 
with  them,  dragged  at  their  chariot-wheels,  goes 
Tuscany  also.  And  could  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi- 
cent have  stood  again  in  Florence,  he  might  have 
inverted  the  form  of  his  speech  and  said :  "  The 
State  goes  with  the  house."  They  rose — and  fell 
— together.  The  death  of  all  ability,  the  death 
of  all  high  and  generous  sentiments,  the  death  of 
all  strength  and  force  of  character: — this  is  what 
is  set  before  us  in  the  fifty -three  years'  reign 
of  Cosimo  III.  Great  things  are  being  done  in 
other  parts  of  Europe :  the  victories  of  the  great 
Turenne  ;  the  victories  of  Marlborough — Blenheim, 
Ramillies,  Oudenarde,  and  Malplaquet ;  the  spread 
of  science,  literature,  and  art  in  other  countries ; 
but  Tuscany  has  no  part  in  these  things,  and 
leads  the  way  no  more  to  anything  but  degeneracy 
and  ruin. 

459 


460  COSIMO   III.  tcHAP 

Cosimo  was  twenty-eight  years  old  when  he 
succeeded  to  the  throne.  His  character  has 
already  been  noted.  His  travels  had  not  pro- 
duced any  marked  improvement  in  him,  their 
chief  effect  having  been  only  to  give  him  an 
unbounded  love  of  ostentation ;  with  the  result 
that  the  magnificence  and  luxury  of  his  court 
far  exceeded  that  of  any  previous  reign. ^  For 
the  first  three  years  matters  proceeded  tranquilly  ; 
peace  for  a  time  prevailed  between  the  Grand 
Duke  and  his  wife,  Marguerite  Louise  ;  the  strong 
respect  which  Cosimo  entertained  for  his  uncle 
Leopold's  opinion  gave  promise  of  wisdom  and 
moderation  in  the  government ;  while  the  birth 
in  1671  of  a  second  son,  who  was  named  Giovanni 
Gastone,  was  welcomed  as  rendering  more  secure 
the  continuance  of  the  family. 

But  this  satisfactory  state  of  affairs  did  not  last 
long.  Cosimo's  subordination  to  priestly  influence, 
together  with  the  constant  interference  of  his  foolish 
mother,  Vittoria  della  Rovere,  in  all  matters,  after 
a  time  provoked  the  Grand  Duchess  Marguerite 
Louise^  to  demand,  in  1674,  a  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. This  being  refused,  she  withdrew  to  Poggio 
a  Caiano,  wrote  thence  to  Cosimo,  saying,  "  You 
make  the  unhappiness  of  my  life,  and  I  make 
the  unhappiness  of  yours, "  and  demanded  a  final 
separation   and   permission   to   return   to   France. 

^  The  maids-of-lionour  of  the  Grand  Duchess^  chosen  from  all  the 
first  families  of  Florence,  presented  a  numerous  and  imposing  array. 
A  complete  series  of  their  portraits  is  to  be  seen  in  the  long  corridor 
between  the  Pitti  Palace  and  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  They  are  those  in 
oval  frames  in  the  portion  of  the  corridor  which  adjoins  the  cliurch 
of  Sta.  Felicita.  There  are  twenty-five  of  them  ;  and  among  them 
many  faces  of  much  beauty. 

2  Plate  XCIII. 


PI.iTE  XCIII. 


Jiarto) 


'J'[fiii  Uallery. 


xxix]       MINISTERS   FROM   THE    CLOISTER         461 

To  this  Cosimo,  afraid  of  the  strong  pubhc 
opinion  which  existed  in  her  favour,  had  to  con- 
sent. Accordingly,  dehghted  to  be  able  at  last 
to  tin*n  her  back  on  the  country  which  had  been 
to  her  like  a  jDrison  for  thirteen  years,  Marguerite 
Louise  left  Tuscany  for  France,  where  she  took 
up  her  abode  at  the  convent  of  Montmartre,  near 
Paris.  This  was  followed  by  the  death  in  1675 
of  Cosimo 's  uncle,  Cardinal  Leopold,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  fifty-eight ;  ^  and  with  him  departed  all 
ability  and  common-sense  in  the  conduct  of  affairs. 
The  Grand  Duchess  Vittoria,  the  field  beino- 
thus  left  vacant,  now  gained  the  entire  influence. 
And  where  she  was  paramount  every  folly  was  a 
certainty.  Ferdinand  XL's  ministers  were  replaced 
by  others  of  her  selection,  chosen  as  a  rule  from 
the  cloister — men  so  utterly  without  capacity  or 
spirit  that  Magalotti  compared  them  to  little 
children  frightened  lest  they  should  be  sent  back 
to  school.^  "  Theology  became  a  substitute  for 
statesmanship,  "  and  in  a  short  time  universal  con- 
tempt for  Tuscany  and  its  sovereign  began  to 
be  the  prevailing  sentiment  among  other  powers ; 
while  in  home  affairs  one  ill-advised  measure  after 
another  foUowed  in  rapid  succession.     Meanwhile 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  fomily  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened,  the  body  was  found  "  dressed  in  a  purple  cliasuble,  an  alb 
adorned  with  rich  lace,  and  a  cope  of  violet-coloured  silk  richly 
embroidered  with  g-old  ;  on  the  head  the  scarlet  cap,  and  at  the  feet  the 
mitre  and  cardinal's  hat.  On  the  breast  was  a  gold  cross  set  with  five 
amethysts  ;  and  on  the  finger  a  ring  enamelled  with  flowers  on  a 
white  ground  and  bearing  a  jacinth.  In  the  hands  was  held  a  cross 
of  ebony  with  a  handsome  crucifix  of  gilded  silver."  Behind  the  head 
was  a  leaden  plate  bearing  his  name  and  rank,  with  a  long  inscription 
in  Latin  describing  his  many  attainments,  his  various  works  in  tlio 
cause  of  Learning  and  Art,  and  his  liigh  character.  {Official  Report  OA 
the  examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 

^  Galluzi  viii.  ii. 


462  COSIMO   TTI.  [chap. 

Marguerite  T^ouise  was  highly  popular  at  the 
French  court,  where  her  lively  sallies  and  constant 
ridicule  of  Cosimo  and  the  Tuscan  court  greatly 
amused  Louis  XIV.^  This  made  Cosimo  furious, 
increasing  his  naturally  bad  temper  almost  to  mad- 
ness ;  he  threatened  to  stop  her  allowance,  but 
Louis  XIV.  forbade  him  to  do  so,  and  Cosimo 
stood  far  too  much  in  awe  of  the  French  monarch 
to  disobey. 

The  history  of  Cosimo  Ill.'s  long  reign  of  over 
half  a  century  is  one  of  every  evil  which  a  ruler 
at  once  vain,  weak,  tyrannical,  entirely  wanting  in 
brains,  and  sunk  in  superstition  and  bigotry  can 
create.  The  record  becomes  wearisome  by  reason 
of  the  constant  repetition  of  the  same  enormities 
and  imbecilities,  while  the  condition  of  the  out- 
raged people  grew  ever  more  deplorable.  Cosimo 
was  his  own  Minister  of  Justice.  His  avarice 
caused  him  to  overtax  his  subjects,  his  bigotry  to 
arraign  them  for  offences  outside  the  scope  of  all 
ordinary  laws,  his  weak,  yet  tyrannical,  disposition 
to  inflict  upon  them  punishments  outrageous  in 
their  cruel  severity.  And  these  effects,  when 
combined  with  the  measures  to  which  an  earnest 
but  mistaken  view  of  religion  led  a  foolish  and 
superstitious  character,  produced  results  which  made 
the  condition  of  the  people  under  the  worst  of 
Asiatic  rulers  more  tolerable  than  that  of  the 
people  of  Tuscany  under  Cosimo  III.  Crime, 
poverty,  cruel  punishments,  and  priestly  inter- 
ference  in   every  detail   of  domestic  life  reduced 

^  Several   of  Marguerite   Louise's  letters  are  to   be   seen   in  the 
Florentine  archives. 


XXIX.]  AN  ABYSS  OF  MISRULE  463 

the  inhabitants  to  the  last  stage  of  wretchedness.^ 
Cosimo  considered  it  his  mission  to  dragoon  his 
subjects  into  moraHty,  and  his  methods  in  this 
particular  created  untold  misery.  The  most 
ferocious  punishments  were  daily  meted  out  for 
the  smallest  offences,  or  supposed  offences,  against 
morality.  "  The  chain  and  the  lash  were  in 
constant  requisition."  The  periodical  visits  of  a 
Dominican  friar  who  made  minute  examination 
into  all  family  matters,  and  by  the  royal  authority 
commanded  marriages,  separations,  or  imprison- 
ment, destroyed  all  possibility  of  domestic  happi- 
ness. "  Dissimulation  spread  like  a  pestilence ; 
priests  and  hypocrisy  pervaded  all."-  IVIarriage 
portions  given  to  girls  recommended  by  ecclesi- 
astics, pensions  given  to  crowds  of  so  -  called 
"  converts,"  a  crushing  taxation,  laws  conceived  in 
entire  ignorance  of  all  commercial  or  agricultural 
affairs,  outrageous  punishments  for  trivial  offences, 
these  and  similar  measures  caused  many  of  the 
inhabitants  to  take  flight  from  the  country ;  while 
those  who  remained  became  idle,  false,  and  bigoted. 
Thus  did  Cosimo's  early  training,  habits,  and  dis- 
position reduce  a  high  -  spirited  and  intellectual 
people  to  the  most  abject  state  of  moral  and 
material  degradation  ever  known. 

One  of  the  worst  features  in  Cosimo  was  his 
dislike  of  his  sons,  whom  in  the  most  ill-advised 
manner  he  persistently  bullied.  Both  of  them 
had  good  natural  dispositions  and  abilities,  but 
both  were  in  turn  ruined  through  the  treatment 

^  One  of  Cosimo's  most  hated  measures  was  his  causinjr  executions 
to  be  carried  out  in  the  public  streets,  in  order  to  terrify  the  people, 
vvliich  struck  them  with  horror. 

'  Galluzi  viii.   ii. 


464  COSIMO   III.  [chap. 

they  sustained  from  their  father;  and  this  in  the 
end  brought  about  the  most  disastrous  conse- 
quences to  the  family.  A  mixture  of  extravagance 
and  niggardhness,  he  kept  a  tight  hold  on  his 
purse-strings  where  his  sons  were  concerned, 
employing  this  means  of  coercing  them  to  his 
will. 

Prince  Princc  Ferdinand,  the  heir  to  the 
Ferdinand,  throuc,  had  as  his  instructors,  Viviani, 
Redi,  Noris,  the  brothers  Lorenzini,  and  other 
distinguished  men  of  the  time,  and  being  full  of 
talent  and  intelligence  promised  to  offer  a  striking 
contrast  to  his  father  whenever  he  should  be  called 
upon  to  rule.  By  the  year  1680,  when  he  was 
seventeen,  this  young  Prince  began  to  find  the 
follies  of  the  Grand  Duchess  Vittoria  insupport- 
able, and  to  revolt  more  and  more  from  her 
authority.  He  was  prohibited  by  Cosimo  from 
corresponding  with  his  mother,  whose  extravagant 
conduct  in  Paris  continued,  and  who  openly 
declared  her  intention  whenever  Cosimo's  in- 
temperance brought  his  life  to  an  end,  of  going 
to  Florence,  "  chasing  hypocrites  and  hypocrisy 
from  the  court,"  discharging  all  the  incompetent 
sycophants  who  had  been  promoted  by  the  Grand 
Duchess  Vittoria,  and  restoring  good  govern- 
ment and  common-sense.  Ferdinand  espoused 
his  mother's  side  in  the  quarrel,  disregarded  the 
prohibition  against  corresponding  with  her,  and 
when  his  instructors,  the  brothers  Lorenzini,  were 
most  cruelly  consigned  to  permanent  imprison- 
ment in  the  dungeons  of  Volterra  for  supporting 
him,  threw   off  his   father's   authority  altogether, 


XXIX. ]  REVOLT   AGAINST   HYPOCRISY  465 

and  became  the  centre  of  a  band  of  well-born 
young  men  whose  avowed  object  was  to  assert 
themselves  in  opposition  to  the  monastical  atmos- 
phere of  the  court,  to  favour  music,  art,  and 
literature,  and  to  contend  against  all  hypocrisy  and 
dissimulation.  This  society  became  immensely 
popular,  all  the  young  scions  of  the  leading  Floren- 
tine families  pressing  to  join  it  in  their  detestation 
of  the  rule  of  the  ecclesiastics  favoured  by  Cosimo 
and  his  mother ;  while  the  society  was  soon  still 
further  strengthened  by  being  joined  by  Cosimo's 
younger  brother,  Francesco  Maria,  who  was  only 
three  years  older  than  his  nephew  Ferdinand.  On 
his  uncle  Leopold's  death  Francesco  Maria  had 
been  made  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  but 
had  no  taste  for  the  ecclesiastical  life.  Thus  the 
family  was  divided  into  two  parties,  on  the  one 
side  the  bigoted  Cosimo  and  his  still  more  bigoted 
mother  Vittoria,  and  on  the  other  his  brother 
Francesco  Maria  and  eldest  son  Ferdinand,  with 
the  Grand  Duchess  Marguerite  I^ouise  watch- 
ing from  a  distance  and  encouraging  the  latter 
party. 

But  the  concourse  of  youthful  spirits  led 
by  Prince  Ferdinand  soon,  in  their  revolt  from 
hypocrisy  and  a  monkish  style  of  life,  went 
further  than  merely  favouring  music,  art,  and 
literature,  and  developed  a  taste  for  pleasure  and 
intemperance  which  nullified  all  their  good  inten- 
tions and  gave  Cosimo  an  opportunity  for  applying 
a  thoroughly  characteristic  remedy.  A  rigorous 
family  inspection,  with  a  searching  investigation 
into  every  detail  of  private  habits,  was  instituted, 
carried   out    by   friars ;   and    this    developed   into 

VOL.    II.  2    G 


466  COSIMO  III.  [chap. 

a  regular  system  of  espionage  and  persecution, 
which  soon  put  down  any  tendency  to  gaiety  and 
pleasure,  and  made  the  opponents  of  dissimulation 
and  hypocrisy  themselves  practise  these  means  of 
evading  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  All  classes  were 
subjected  to  this  system ;  while  at  the  same  time 
monks  were  placed  over  the  parish  priests,  and 
kept  the  people  perpetually  employed  in  "pro- 
cessions, preachings,  and  penances  " ;  accusations 
multiplied,  while  pardon  for  imaginary  offences 
was  only  to  be  obtained  by  the  payment  of  large 
sums  of  money  to  the  ecclesiastics. 

Disgusted  with  this  state  of  things.  Prince 
Ferdinand,  being  now  twenty-two,  desired  to  be 
allowed  to  proceed  on  a  tour  to  see  the  world ; 
but  was  kept  for  two  years  before  Cosimo  would 
agree  to  let  him  go.  In  1687,  however,  Ferdinand 
was  allowed  to  depart  on  a  tour  in  northern 
Italy,  after  being  first  betrothed  to  the  Princess 
Violante  Beatrice  of  Bavaria.  In  November  1688 
he  returned,  and  the  marriage  was  carried  out 
with  a  most  gorgeous  display  of  magnificence.  A 
special  gate  was  opened  in  the  wall  of  the  city  near 
the  Porta  San  Gallo,  and  through  this  the  Princess 
Violante  was  drawn,  in  a  car  profusely  studded 
with  gems,  to  a  chapel  erected  for  the  occasion ; 
there  she  was  crowned  by  Cosimo  with  the  Grand 
Ducal  crown,  and  thence  was  conducted  to  the 
Palace  in  a  procession  of  the  most  extravagant 
splendour ;  after  which  the  marriage  was  performed 
in  the  cathedral.^ 

1  It  was  on  this  occasion  that^  in  order  to  make  space  for  an 
increased  number  of  singers,  Luca  della  Robbia's  and  Donatello's 
reliefs  of  the  Cantorie  were  removed  from  the  two  organ-lofts,  and 
have  never  since  been  replaced  in  the  position  for  which  they  wera 
designed. 


XXIX.]  PRINCE   FERDINAND  467 

Prince  Ferdinand^  was  the  hope  of  all  those 
who  desired  to  see  a  better  state  of  things  dawn 
upon  Tuscany.  High-spirited,  full  of  ability,  and 
fond  of  art  and  science,  he  had  become  the  centre 
round  whom  gathered  all  who  were  learned "  and 
cultured,  and  all  that  portion  of  Florentine  society 
which  had  no  taste  for  the  atmosphere  of  hypo- 
crisy which  pervaded  the  court.  But  his  father 
contrived  to  bring  these  bright  prospects  to  ruin. 
Ferdinand  was  as  energetic  and  resolute  as  his 
father  was  weak  and  undecided,  and  being  eager 
to  employ  his  abilities  to  some  useful  purpose, 
desired  to  take  a  part  in  public  affairs  ;  but  Cosimo 
refused  to  permit  him  to  do  so.  Disgusted  at  a 
fatuous  style  of  government  which  was  dragging 
the  country  to  ruin,  forced  to  be  the  daily  witness 
of  errors  and  foUies  which  he  was  not  allowed  to 
remedy,  and  subjected  to  chronic  bullying  by  a 
father  who  hated  him,  Ferdinand  gradually  took 
to  a  dissolute  course  of  life  which  before  he  was 
forty  ruined  his  health,  and  brought  about  his 
death  a  few  years  later.  Unfortunately  he  did 
not  care  for  the  wife  whom  his  father  had  chosen 
for  him,  the  Princess  Violante,  though  she  was  in 
every  way  worthy  of  his  affection,  and  deservedly 
liked  by  all  classes  in  Florence.  She  never 
reproached  him  for  his  neglect,  and  to  the  last 
continued  to  show  her  affection  for  him.^ 

1  Plate  XCIV.  He  wears  his  own  liair,  but  in  the  mode  of  curling 
it  we  are  able  to  trace  the  transition  from  the  long  locks  of  the  cavaliers 
to  the  wig,  which  was  already  coming  into  vogue. 

2  One  of  the  learned  men  of  tlie  time,  Francesco  Marucelli,  wlio  liad 
collected  about  twelve  thousand  books,  founded  the  present  Marucelliana 
Library,  bequcatliing  it  at  his  death  in  170.3  to  the  city  of  Florence. 
Another  passionate  lover  of  books,  Antonio  Magliahecchi,  wlio  was 
librarian  of  tlie  Palatine  Library,  collected  about  thirty  thousand  books 
which  at  his  deatli  in  1714  he  likewise  bequeathed  to  his  native  city 
(chap,  xxviii.  p.  441,  footnote). 

^  See  page  479  (footnote). 


468  COSIMO     III.  [rHAP. 

In  the  early  part  of  Cosiino's  reign 
^^^'  various  important  additions  were  made  to 
the  art  collections  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  Cosimo's 
intemperance  both  in  eating  and  drinking  caused 
him  to  suffer  from  frequent  illness,  as  a  remedy 
for  which  his  physician,  the  celebrated  Kedi,^ 
prescribed  regular  walking  exercise ;  and  Paolo 
Falconieri,  one  of  the  cultured  men  whom  Prince 
Ferdinand  had  gathered  round  him,  suggested 
that  this  exercise  should  be  taken  in  the  Uffizi 
Gallery,  and  that  the  Grand  Duke  should  for  his 
amusement  adorn  it  with  all  the  best  specimens 
of  sculpture  belonging  to  the  family.  Cosimo 
took  up  the  idea  warmly,  removed  to  the  gallery 
many  of  the  statues  hitherto  placed  in  the  Boboli 
gardens,  and  caused  to  be  brought  from  the 
Villa  Medici  at  Rome  most  of  the  remaining 
works  of  sculpture  which  Ferdinand  I.  had 
collected,  including  the  Venus  de  Medici,  the 
WiTstlers,  the  Knife-ivhetter,  and  the  large  number 
of  classic  busts  and  other  works  of  sculpture  to 
be  seen  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  then  called  the 
Gallery  of  the  Statues.^  The  long  corridor 
between  the  Palace  and  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  which 
formed  part  of  this  daily  walk  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  was  also  adorned  with  many  pictures, 
among   them    the    large    collection    of    over    six 

1  Francesco  Redi  was  celebrated  as  tlie  first  physician  of  his  day,  as 
a  writer  on  Natural  History,  and  as  a  poet.  He  foreshadowed  many  of 
the  modern  discoveries  of  bacteriology  and  the  means  of  obtaining 
immunity  from  various  diseases  by  inoculation.  He  founded  the 
Florentine  Museum  of  Natural  History.  His  poem  Bacco  in  Toscana 
lias  obtained  a  wide  celebrity.  His  renown  in  medical  science  has 
caused  his  statue  to  be  placed  in  the  Uffizi  colonnade. 

-  For  some  reason  the  group  of  Niobe  and  her  Children,  and  the 
ApoUino,  were  still  left  in  the  Villa  Medici  at  Rome,  and  were  not 
brought  thence  and  placed  with  the  rest  of  the  Medicean  art  possessions 
until  177-j  under  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke  Pietro  Leopoldo. 


I 


PLATE  XCIV. 


[JVdji/i'S  (iallenj. 


ri.ATh:  xcv. 


ANNA    MARIA    I>CIK)V1(  A,    DAIGHTER    OF    COSI.MO    III.,    EI,E(  THEIRS    PALATINE. 

By  Adrian  \'aii  der  AV^erif. 

Hanfstaengl]  '  [Munich  GaUery. 


XXIX.]  BURIALS   IN   THE   MAUSOLEUM  469 

hundred  portraits  of  notable  persons  in  Europe 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  which, 
though  they  are  of  no  artistic  merit,  are  of  much 
value  from  an  historical  point  of  view. 

Cosimo  also  now  took  in  hand  an 
important   matter   in   regard  to  the     transferred 
family    mausoleum.       Hitherto    the    ,,  *°  *^® 

•'  ,        .  Mausoleum. 

numerous  members  of  the  family 
who  had  died  since  it  was  begun  by  his  great- 
grandfather Ferdinand  I.  in  1604  had,  pending 
the  completion  of  the  mausoleum,  been  buried 
temporarily  in  the  New  Sacristy.  Migliore,  writing 
in  1684,  in  describing  the  New  Sacristy,  says : — 

"  This  chapel  also  serves  for  burying  the  bodies 
of  the  Grand  Dukes  and  Princes  of  the  Blood, 
placed  in  the  ground  beneath,  with  short  inscrip- 
tions merely  for  record,  and  not  in  the  form  of 
elegant  eulogy  such  as  they  merit  and  their 
grandeur  would  require,  pending  their  being  trans- 
ferred to  tlie  mausoleum  which  is  being  prepared 
immediately  behind  the  choir  of  the  church."^ 

He  also  states  that  in  the  Old  Sacristy  were 
buried  the  bodies  of  Maria  Salviati,  and  Cosimo  I. 
with  his  sons  Giovanni  and  Garzia.  Thus  in  the 
New  Sacristy  there  had  been  temporarily  buried 
in  this  manner  some  eighteen  members  of  the 
family,  viz.,  Francis  I.  and  his  wife  Joanna,  with  two 
of  their  children,  Anna  and  Filippo ;  Ferdinand  I. 
and  his  wife  Christine,  with  five  of  their  children, 
Francesco,  Carlo,  Lorenzo,  Eleonora,  and  Caterina  ; 

1  Firenze  Cittd  Nobilissima,  by  Ferdinando  Leopoldo  del  Migliore 
(1684). 


470 


COSIMO    III. 


[chap. 


Cosimo  TI.  and  Maria  Maddalena,  with  four  of 
their  children,  Maria  Cristina,  Giovanni  Carlo, 
Mattias,  and  Leopold ;  and  Ferdinand  II.  By 
the  year  1685,  however,  the  mausoleum,  though 
still  only  about  half  finished,  was  sufficiently 
advanced  for  them  to  be  interred  there ;  Cosimo, 
therefore,  now  removed  the  bodies  of  all  the  above 
from  their  temporary  resting-places  to  the  mauso- 
leum. The  remains  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere 
being  at  the  same  time  brought  from  Mantua, 
all  were  duly  placed  in  the  crypt,  those  of 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  and  his  wife  Maria 
Salviati  in  the  centre,  and  the  whole  of  their 
descendants  ranged  round  them.^ 


Before  the  middle  of  Cosimo's  reign  was  reached 
his  imbecile  method  of  government  had  begun  to 
produce  serious  difficulties.  In  the  disturbed  state 
of  Europe^  it  was  urgently  necessary  that  the 
country  should  be  placed  in  a  proper  state  of 
defence ;   but  all  military  requirements  had  been 

^  Chap,  xxxii.  p.  617- 

^  Louis  XIV.  at  this  period  dominated  all  European  politics,  and 
the  principal  events  of  this  portion  of  his  stirring  reign  were — 


War  with  Holland 

1672. 

Victories  of  Turenne     . 

1674-1676. 

Peace  of  Nymwegen 

1678. 

Occupation  of  Luxembourg   . 

1682. 

Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 

1685. 

Devastation  of  the  Palatinate 

1688. 

Victories  of  Marshal  Luxembourg 

1690-1693 

Peace  of  Ryswyck 

1697. 

War  of  the  Spanish  Succession 

1701. 

Victories  of  Vendome  and  Tallard 

1702-1703. 

Battle  of  Blenheim 

1704. 

,,        Ramillies 

1706. 

„         Oudenarde 

1708. 

„         Malplaquet     . 

1709. 

Peace  of  Utrecht 

.       1714. 

Death  of  Louis  XIV.      . 

1716. 

XXIX.]         MARRIAGE   OF   HIS   DAUGHTER  471 

ignored  by  Cosimo's  cloister- trained  Ministers  of 
State,  and  no  money  for  this  purpose  was  forth- 
coming. Vast  sums  were  squandered  on  rehgious 
ceremonies,  votive  offerings,  the  foundation  of 
convents,  and  similar  objects,  while  gold  was 
lavishly  poured  forth  on  the  crowd  of  monkish 
satellites  who  surrounded  Cosimo  and  his  mother, 
and  on  the  spies  who  infested  every  family  circle ; 
and  this  inordinate  expenditure  on  such  purposes 
while  the  military  defences  of  the  country  were 
allowed  to  go  to  ruin  caused  general  exasperation. 
Public  opinion  loudly  complained  of  this  insane 
policy,  and  was  led  by  Prince  Ferdinand,  who 
openly  condemned  his  father's  conduct,  and  was 
backed  by  public  applause  which  kept  Cosimo  in 
continual  fear  of  a  revolution. 

In  1691  the   Princess  Anna  Maria 

Pnncess 

Ludovica,^  then  twenty-four,  the  only  Anna  Maria 
one  of  his  three  children  for  whom  I'^'^o^''^.. 
Cosimo  had  any  affection,  was  married  to  William, 
Elector  Palatine.  At  the  same  time  Cosimo  was 
granted  by  the  Emperor  the  title  of  "  Royal 
Highness.'"^  But  the  condition  of  the  country 
allowed  him  small  opportunity  for  satisfaction  at 
these  new  honours.  The  people  rose  and  sur- 
rounded the  Royal  Palace  clamouring  for  bread ; 
the  provinces  were  almost  depopulated  ;  and  savage 
bands  of  marauders  roamed  over  the  country  in 
search  of  a  livelihood  unobtainable  by  any  other 
means.  Tuscany  appeared  to  be  sinking  into 
general   anarchy.     Fortunately,  however,  in  1G93 

1  Plate  xcv. 

^  Hence  the  alteration  in  the  shape  of  the  crowai  of  Tuscany  from 
that  worn  by  previous  Grand  Dukes  ;  vide  Plates  XCIIl.  and  XCV'II. 


472  COSIMO   III.  [chap. 

the  Grand  Duchess  Vittoria,  who  liad  for  nearly 
sixty  years  been  the  constant  cause  of  discord  to 
the  family  and  ruin  to  the  country,  died  at  Pisa 
at  the  age  of  seventy-two  ;  ^  and  this,  by  removing 
the  chief  influence  which  had  led  Cosimo  into 
methods  which  made  all  satisfactory  government 
impossible,  produced  some  amelioration  in  the 
conditions  from  which  the  country  was  suffering. 

Cosimo's    second    son,    known    as    Gian 

Prince  ... 

Giovanni  Gastouc,  was   by   this  tune  twenty-two. 

Gastone.  jj^  ^^^  good-looking  and  highly  educated, 
having  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  cultured 
prince  of  his  time,  and  being  specially  devoted  to 
science,  antiquarian  studies,  and  botany.^  It  was 
considered  a  special  proof  of  his  exceptional  attain- 
ments that  among  various  other  languages  he  even 
knew  English.  But  unlike  his  brother  Ferdinand 
he  preferred  a  retired  and  studious  life  in  company 
with  the  distinguished  Cardinal  Noris,^  who  had 
been  his  tutor.  His  active-minded  brother  Ferdi- 
nand consequently  despised  )iim ;  while  his  fatlier 
Cosimo  disliked  him  exceedingly,  and  with  his 
propensity  for  always  taking  the  most  ill-advised 
course,    gave    him    a    very    restricted    allowance 

1  Slie  is  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in 
1857  her  coffin  was  opened^  the  body  was  found  "  clothed  in  a  handsome 
dress  of  black  silk^  ornamented  with  black  and  white  lace  at  the  neck, 
on  the  sleeves,  and  at  the  hem  of  the  skirt.  On  the  breast  was  a  large 
gold  medallion^  having  on  one  side  her  likeness  and  name,  and  on  the 
other  her  crest,  the  birth  of  the  pearl,  that  is,  Oceanus,  Tritons,  and 
Galatea,  who  holds  in  her  hand  an  open  shell,  with  the  motto  Do^  in 
candore."  A  parchment  enclosed  in  a  leaden  tube  bore  her  name 
and  titles,  and  a  long  and  fulsome  eulogy,  ascribing  to  her  all  possible 
virtues. 

^  Tlie  small  circular  building  in  a  retired  part  of  the  Bobcjli  gardens 
was  built  as  a  studio  for  Gian  Gastone. 

^  Afterwards  chief  Librarian  of  the  Vatican  Library. 


XXIX.]  PRINCE   GIOVANNI   GASTONE  473 

and  ignored  him  on  all  occasions,  with  the  result 
that  Gian  Gastone  lived  neglected  by  the  court, 
being  without  the  means  to  share  in  social  dissi- 
pations. Gian  Gastone,  however,  cared  little  for 
being  thus  isolated  from  the  life  of  society  so  long 
as  he  was  left  to  pursue  his  studies  in  peace. 
He  had  a  good  disposition,  loved  a  country  life, 
was  free  from  any  feelings  of  ambition,  and  with 
the  learned  cardinal  for  his  companion  wanted  no 
other  society,  and  had  no  other  desire  than  to  live 
this  kind  of  life  permanently. 

But  Cosimo,  who  by  his  senseless  method  of 
treatment  had  already  driven  one  son  into  reckless 
and  dissolute  courses,  now  proceeded  to  do  the 
same  with  the  other.  It  was  no  doubt  desirable 
that  Gian  Gastone  should  marry,  and  that  he 
should  be  induced  to  lead  a  less  retired  life ;  but 
Cosimo's  methods  for  attaining  these  objects  were 
the  worst  that  could  have  been  employed.  Fired 
with  the  idea  of  planting  a  branch  of  the  Medici  in 
Germany,  Cosimo  arranged,  through  his  daughter 
the  Electress  Palatine,  when  Gian  Gastone  was 
twenty-four,  that  the  latter  should  be  married  to 
Anne  of  Saxe-Lauenburg,  daughter  of  the  deceased 
Duke  of  Saxe-Lauenburg  (who  had  left  no  son), 
and  widow  of  the  Count  Palatine,  Philip  of 
Neuberg,  "a  lady  of  enormous  weight,  immense 
self-will,  and  no  personal  attractions."  ^  She  was 
coarse  and  unintellectual,  was  "  more  like  a 
Bohemian  peasant  than  a  princess,"  cared  only  for 
field  sports  (which  Gian  Gastone  detested),  and 
considered  her  small  patrimony  of  Reichstadt,  a 

'  Letters  of  Horace  Maim,   Euglish  Ambassador  at  the  court   of 
Tuscany.  " 


474  COSIMO   III.  [chap. 

petty  village  in  a  secluded  part  of  the  mountains 
in  Bohemia,  the  only  place  in  the  world  worth 
living  in.  Gian  Gastone  strongly  objected  to  the 
wife  thus  chosen  for  him,  who  was  about  as 
unsuitable  to  a  man  of  his  tastes  as  could  have 
been  found ;  but  Cosimo  would  not  listen  to  his 
protests,  and  after  making  him  accompany  him 
to  Loreto  to  make  numerous  votive  offerings, 
despatched  him  to  Dusseldorf  (the  seat  of  the 
Elector  Palatine),  where  in  July  1097  the  marriage 
was  performed ;  after  which  Gian  Gastone  and 
his  uncongenial  consort  proceeded  to  the  remote 
Bohemian  village  which  was  in  future  to  be  his 
abode. 

Arrived  there,  Gian  Gastone  found  himself 
condemned  to  live  in  a  small  and  mean  castle  in 
the  midst  of  a  village,  without  any  intellectual 
society,  with  a  wife  altogether  his  inferior,  in  a 
country  which  was  buried  deep  in  snow  for  half 
the  year,  and  where  during  the  other  half  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  shoot.  His  wife  cared  only 
about  horses  and  dogs,  and  spent  most  of  her  time 
"  holding  conversations  in  the  stables " ;  she  was 
capricious,  hysterical,  imperious,  brainless,  and  apt 
to  burst  out  suddenly  in  wrath  or  in  tears,  and 
her  character  and  manners  had  after  three  years' 
experience  caused  her  former  husband  to  take  to 
drink.  Gian  Gastone  writes  to  his  father  that  she 
"is  nothing  more  than  a  contadina."  Placed  in 
such  conditions,  and  saddled  with  a  coarse  and  ill- 
favoured  wife  who  offended  his  tastes  at  every  turn, 
Gian  Gastone  stood  it  for  a  year  and  then  fled  to 
join  his  mother  in  Paris,  Thence  he  was  forced 
by   Cosimo   to   return   to   his    hated   domicile   in 


XXIX.]  REICHSTADT  475 

Bohemia ;  but  the  various  miseries  of  his  existence 
there  began  ere  long  to  produce  in  him  a  settled 
melancholy.  "Nevertheless  from  time  to  time 
Gian  Gastone's  keen  and  witty  Tuscan  spirit 
caused  him  to  treat  facetiously  even  the  dismal 
circumstances  in  which  he  found  himself,"^  and 
his  letters  to  his  father  ^  occasionally  describe  the 
untoward  conditions  of  his  life  with  considerable 
humour.  After  a  time  he  tried  to  induce  his  wife 
to  come  with  him  for  the  winter  to  Prague,  but 
she  utterly  declined  to  quit  Reichstadt,  and  flew 
into  a  passion  whenever  the  subject  was  mentioned  ; 
and  at  length  the  constant  quarrels  with  the  vulgar 
and  unrefined  woman  to  whom  he  had  been  united, 
the  inclement  climate,  and  disgust  at  his  surround- 
ings drove  Gian  Gastone  to  remove  to  Prague, 
where  he  took  to  low  society,  intemperance,  and 
a  generally  dissolute  life.  And  henceforth  he  was 
more  often  at  Prague  than  at  Reichstadt. 

By  this  time  Cosimo  (whose  errors  were  all 
caused  by  egregious  vanity  and  want  of  wisdom 
rather  than  by  deliberately  malevolent  intentions) 
began  to  perceive  the  mistake  he  had  made ;  and 
seeing  that  his  elder  son's  health  was  failing,  and 
that  Gian  Gastone  would  probably  become  ere 
long  the  heir  to  the  throne,  desired  that  he  should 
return  to  Tuscany.  But  as  he  would  not  agree 
to  Gian  Gastone  doing  so  by  himself,  he  turned 
all  his  efforts  to  induce  Anne  of  Saxe-Lauenburg 
to  come,  at  all  events  for  a  time,  to  Tuscany. 
Every  power  was  brought  to  bear  to  effect  this, 
and  the  struggle  continued  for  eight  years  without 

1  Gli  ultimi  dei  Aledici,  by  Eniilio  Robiony  (1905). 
^  All  Gian  Gastone's  letters  to  his  father  Cosimo  are  preserved  in 
the  Florentine  archives. 


476  COSIMO   III.  [chap. 

avail ;  urgent  letters  from  Cosimo  to  Anne  herself, 
the  authority  of  her  relative  the  Elector  Palatine 
(who  visited  Reichstadt  in  person  with  this  object), 
even  the  commands  of  the  Pope,  all  were  equally 
powerless  to  remove  Anne  of  Saxe  -  Lauenburg 
from  Reichstadt.^  Eventually  in  1708  Cosimo 
gave  it  up  as  hopeless,  and  wrote  to  Gian  Gastone 
to  return  to  Florence  leaving  her  behind.^  This 
Gian  Gastone  did,  and  henceforth  they  lived  apart. 

In  1705  Prince  Ferdinand's  health  began  to 
decline ;  and  as  he  and  the  Princess  Violante 
had  no  children,  while  the  same  was  the  case  as 
regarded  Gian  Gastone  and  his  wife  Anne,  the 
question  of  the  succession  began  to  be  of  primary 
importance  in  the  affairs  of  Tuscany.  Cosimo, 
therefore,  in  1709  compelled  his  brother  Francesco 
Maria,  who  was  now  nearly  fifty,  to  resign  his 
cardinal's  rank  and  to  marry  Eleonora  Gonzaga, 
the  young  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Guastella ; 
but  though  they  went  through  the  marriage 
ceremony  they  separated  at  once,  and  Francesco 
died  in  the  following  year  leaving  no  children.^ 

In  view  of  the  large  families  of  three  succes- 
sive generations  it  is  remarkable  that  the  Medici 
should  have  died  out  as  they  did.  Cosimo  I.  had 
eight  children  (five  sons  and  three  daughters) ;  in 
the  next  generation  Ferdinand  I.  had  also  eight 

^  The  numerous  letters  on  this  subject  which  passed  during  the 
years  1698-1708  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Florentine  archives. 

2  Cosimo's  letter  says  that  evidently  his  own  sins  have  prevented  his 
obtaining  his  desire  in  this  matter. 

*  He  is  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  family  mausoleum.  He  was 
probably  buried  wearing  many  jewels,  for  when  in  1857  his  coffin  was 
opened  it  was  found  to  have  been  entirely  ransacked  by  thieves,  nothing 
remaining  except  the  skeleton,  the  shoes  with  gold  buckles,  and  a 
long  Latin  inscription  inside  the  coffin  giving  his  name  and  titles  and 
a  fulsome  eulogy  on  his  character. 


XXIX.]  NO    MEDICI    Hl'^IRS  477 

children  (four  sons  and  four  daughters) ;  and  m 
the  next  generation  Cosimo  II.  had  again  eight 
children  (five  sons  and  three  daughters).  Yet 
from  one  cause  or  another  descendants  failed  to 
such  an  extent  that  in  the  fifth  generation  from 
Cosimo  I.  the  family  entirely  died  out.^ 

For   nearly   twenty   years    the   wars    between 
France,   Spain,   and    Austria   had   threatened   the 
independence    of    Tuscany.       That     state    under 
Cosimo's  clerical  administrators  had  become  ready 
to  be  the  prey  of  whoever  marched  an  army  into 
its  territory.     All  the   strength   it   had  possessed 
under  Cosimo  I.  and  Ferdinand  I.  had  departed. 
Forts  had  been  allowed  to  fall  into  disrepair,  and 
their   armaments   to   become   obsolete ;    the   fleet 
had    disappeared ;     the    army    was    contemptible, 
wanting  in  men,  arms,  and  equipment.     Cosimo 
had  only  maintained    Tuscany's   independence   in 
the  midst  of  these   wars    by   the   usual   resource 
of  a   weak   state,    that   of    siding   first   with    one 
and  then  with  another  of  the  combatants  accord- 
ing to  whichever  at  the  moment  was  the  strongest. 
Their  armies  had   frequently  invaded  I^ombardy, 
and  Tuscany  would   have  been   similarly  overrun 
had  it  not  been  that  each  of  the  three  powers  was 
determined  to  prevent  the  central  state  in   Italy 
from  becoming  the  property  of  either  of  the  otliers. 
These  conditions  were  now  intensified  by  its 
becoming  apparent  that  at  no  distant  date  there 
would  remain  no  descendant  of  the  Medici  family 
to  occupy  the   Tuscan  throne,   none  of  Cosimo's 
three   children    having    any   children.     Therefore, 

*  See  Appendix  I.,  and  Appendices  Xll.  and  XIII. 


478  COSIMO   in.  [chap 

between  the  various  powers  who  all  cast  greedy 
eyes  upon  the  most  important  state  in  Italy 
there  now  began  a  political  contest,  which  lasted 
for  the  next  thirty  years,  as  to  which  of  them 
should  become  tlie  possessor  of  Tuscany  when 
that  throne  should  be  vacant,  "  the  European 
monarchs  watching  like  wreckers  the  last  moments 
of  the  foundering  Medici."  ^  Meanwhile  Cosimo 
protested  furiously  against  any  such  question 
being  debated,  declaring  it  to  be  his  right  to 
nominate  a  successor  to  the  throne  after  the 
demise  of  his  sons ;  and  that  even  if  this  were 
disallowed  the  position  reverted  to  that  which 
had  existed  before  Cosimo  I.  created  that  throne, 
the  right  to  say  by  whom  they  would  be  governed 
reverting  to  the  Tuscan  people. 

In  1712  there  was  assembled  the  Congress  of 
Utrecht,  in  which  almost  every  state  in  Europe 
took  part,  and  at  which  each  had  some  claim  to 
urge  as  a  portion  of  the  terras  of  any  general 
peace  which  might  be  effected.  At  this  congress 
Cosimo's  right  to  nominate  a  successor  to  the 
throne  of  Tuscany  on  the  death  of  his  second 
son  was  practically  acknowledged  by  the  powers. 
Although  not  a  final  settlement  of  the  question, 
it  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  Cosimo 
intended  to  nominate  his  daughter,  the  Electress 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica,  to  succeed  his  second  son 
if  she  outlived  the  latter ;  and  the  Emperor 
Charles  VI.  signified  to  her  and  to  Cosimo  that 
he  would  be  ready  to  give  his  sanction  to  this 
arrangement. 

In    1713,    when    Cosimo   was  seventy-one,  his 

^  Napier. 


XXIX.]         THE   DECREE   OF  THE   SENATE  479 

eldest  son,  Prince  Ferdinand,  died,  at  the  age  of 
fifty/  He  was  greatly  lamented  in  Tuscany,  not 
only  on  account  of  his  abilities,  his  agreeable  dis- 
position (which  caused  the  excesses  of  his  later 
years  to  be  forgiven),  and  his  constant  opposition 
to  the  foolish  methods  of  government  by  which 
the  country  was  being  brought  to  ruin,  but  also 
on  account  of  the  high  hopes  which  had  been  enter- 
tained of  the  complete  change  which  it  was  felt 
he  would  have  introduced  whenever  he  succeeded 
to  the  throne. 

Upon  the  death  of  Cosimo's  eldest  son  the 
Florentine  Senate  was  convened,  and  passed  a 
decree,^  which  was  confirmed  by  the  Grand  Duke, 
that  on  the  death  of  Prince  Giovanni  Gastone. 
his  sister,  the  Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica, 
should  succeed  to  the  throne.  This  decree  was 
formally  promulgated  and  communicated  to  the 
various    courts    of    Europe,    its    promulgation   in 

^  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  When  in  1857  his  coffin 
was  opened,  the  body  was  found  "  dressed  in  the  costume  of  the  time, 
wearing  a  breast-plate  over  a  brocaded  coat  embroidered  in  silver.  'ITie 
breeches  were  fastened  at  the  knee  with  buckles^  each  having  five 
diamonds,  llie  stockings  were  of  silk^  and  tlie  shoes  ornamented  with 
large  roses  of  lace.  The  ruffles  of  the  shirt  sleeves  were  fastened  with 
links  made  of  two  small  gold  buttons  with  his  own  initials  on  them. 
His  sword,  with  the  hilt  entwined  with  a  gold  sword  knot,  lay  by  liis 
side  broken.  Near  his  head  was  a  gold  medallion,  and  another  similar 
to  it  on  the  breast,  bearing  on  one  side  his  likeness  and  name,  and  on 
the  other  a  thunderbolt  issuing  from  the  clouds  and  the  motto  Et 
lucet  et  terret."  But  the  most  remarkable  thing  about  this  coffin 
(showing  also  that  it  must  have  been  opened  again  on  a  subsequent 
occasion)  was  that  it  contained  the  embalmed  heart  of  Ferdinand's  wife, 
the  Princess  Violante,  who  died  many  years  after  him.  For  the  same 
report  says  : — "  In  this  coffin  was  also  found,  enclosed  in  a  vase  of 
majolica,  the  heart  of  the  Princess  Violante  Beatrice  of  Bavaria,  his 
wife."  'rhe  vase  had  an  inscri])tion  giving  her  name,  titles,  and  amiable 
qualities,  and  stating  that  "  this  truly  royal  heart,  which  in  life  was  full 
of  all  virtues,  has  in  accordance  witli  her  dying  will  and  testament 
been  placed  in  this  coffin  of  her  husband."  {Official  Report  on  the 
examination  of  the  Tonihx  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 

2  Dated  November  1713. 


480  COSIMO    III.  [chap. 

Florence  being  accompanied  by  public  festivities. 
Austria  declined  to  agree,  declaring  that  the 
decree  showed  that  Cosimo's  ultimate  intention 
was  to  give  Tuscany  to  a  Bourbon  ;  but  Cosimo 
placed  his  chief  reliance  on  England  and  Holland, 
who  were  both  ready  to  withstand  Austria  in 
the  matter,  George  I.  being  specially  opposed 
to  any  foreign  power  obtaining  a  preponderating 
influence  in  Italy.  France  also  did  not  object  to 
the  decree,  Louis  XIV.  only  taking  exception 
to  its  incompleteness,  and  urging  that  prudence, 
policy,  and  national  justice  pointed  to  the  ulti- 
mate successor  being  the  Princess  Elizabeth  of 
Parma,  through  Margherita  de'  Medici,  daughter 
of  Cosimo  11.^  Lastly,  Philip  V.  of  Spain  took 
a  still  more  definite  course  by  promptly  maiTying 
the  Princess  Elizabeth,  as  a  preliminary  to  claim- 
ing Tuscany  for  Spain  when  the  time  came. 
Meanwhile  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  (1714)  took  place 
without  any  opposition  being  made  by  any  of  the 
powers  to  the  Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica 
being  considered  the  rightful  successor  to  the 
throne  of  Tuscany  after  her  brother,  Giovanni 
Gastone. 

In  1715  Louis  XIV.  died,  his  death  causing 
important  changes  in  European  politics ;  and  in 
1716  the  Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica,  now 
fifty  years  of  age,  became  a  widow,  and  returned 
from  Dusseldorf  to  Florence,  where  she  immedi- 
ately became  the  principal  personage  at  the  court. 
On  her  arrival  Ferdinand's  widow,  the  Princess 
Violante,  retired  to  Siena,  of  which  she  was  made 
Governor.     The  altered  state  of  European  affairs 

'  Chap,  xxviii.  p.  398. 


XXIX.  1  TUSCANY   SACRIFICED  481 

caused  by  the  death  of  Louis  XIV.  led  in  1718  to 
a  quadruple  alliance  between  England,  Holland, 
France,  and  Austria.  And  these  powers  in  a 
treaty  concluded  at  London  decided,  without  even 
consulting  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  that  on 
the  death  of  Cosimo's  son,  Gian  Gastone,  Tuscany 
should  go  to  Don  Carlos  of  Spain,  the  eldest  son  of 
Elizabeth  of  Parma,  Queen  of  Spain ;  this  being 
done  in  order  to  pacify  Austria  as  to  the  chance  of 
a  Bourbon  being  allowed  to  obtain  Tuscany.  The 
article  of  this  treaty  which  thus  sacrificed  Tuscany, 
trampled  on  a  formal  national  decree,  and  excluded 
Cosimo's  favourite  child  from  the  succession,  was 
kept  secret,  but  could  not  long  be  concealed ;  and 
when  it  became  known  it  filled  both  the  Florentines 
and  the  Grand  Duke  with  unbounded  indignation. 
The  people  hated  Cosimo,  but  at  the  moment  this 
feeling  was  swallowed  up  in  their  wrath  against  the 
four  powers  who  had  thus  treated  their  country. 
Cosimo  sent  vehement  protests  to  all  the  powers 
concerned ;  but  each  of  them  profited  in  various 
ways  by  other  clauses  in  the  treaty,  and  would  do 
nothing  to  invalidate  it ;  and  Cosimo  was  informed 
that  he  must  submit,  and  that  if  he  did  not,  foreign 
troops  would  be  sent  into  Tuscany  to  hold  it  for 
disposal  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  London. 
Thus  did  Cosimo  see  himself  insulted,  his  country 
sold,  and  the  independence  of  Tuscany  annihilated. 
But  at  this  juncture  Cosimo,^  though  he  was 
now  seventy-six  years  old,  displayed  an  energy 
and  vigour  at  variance  with  all  his  previous 
history.  Troops  were  raised  throughout  Tuscany, 
the  fortresses  were  repaired  and  their  armaments 

1  Plate  XCVl. 
VOL.    II.  2    H 


482  COSIMO    III.  [chap. 

brought  up  to  date,  the  harbour  defences  of  Porto 
Ferrajo  and  Leghorn  were  strengthened,  and  every 
arrangement  made  to  resist  to  the  uttermost. 
Tuscany,  if  it  was  to  perish  as  an  independent 
state,  should  die  fighting.  At  the  same  time 
Cosimo  drew  up  a  formal  declaration  to  the 
powers  which  stated  that  "no  successor  to  the 
Medici  could  be  recognised  in  the  free  and 
independent  State  of  Tuscany  unless  approved 
by  the  people  through  their  representative  the 
Florentine  Senate ;  therefore  no  power  had  a  right 
to  exclude  the  Electress  Anna  as  chosen  by  that 
body  and  hailed  with  public  acclamation ;  and  that 
except  by  violence  there  was  no  way  of  making 
a  free  nation  submit  to  feudal  supremacy,  a  thing 
utterly  at  variance  with  its  nature  and  institutions  ; 
or  of  introducing  garrisons  into  a  neutral  and 
unoffending  country  which  had  only  been  striving 
to  preserve  its  own  peace  without  molesting  any 
one."^  By  this  time  England  and  Holland  were 
at  war ;  it  was  believed  that  Cosimo's  determined 
attitude  must  be  supported  secretly  by  some  other 
power ;  while  it  seemed  probable  that  some  new 
turn  in  international  politics  might  throw  the  whole 
question  again  into  discussion.  Cosimo's  protest 
was  consequently  received  with  respect. 

In  1720  peace  was  again  restored,  and  a  fresh 
congress  was  assembled  at  Cambrai.  At  this  con- 
gress the  whole  question  of  the  Tuscan  succession 
was  argued  out  afresh,  Cosimo's  ambassador  being 
Corsini,  who  displayed  much  ability  in  demon- 
strating the  injustice  to  Tuscany  of  the  proposed 
course,  and  more  particularly  the   certainty  that 

^  Napier's  Florentine  Hutory,  vol.  v.  p.  550. 


PLATE  XCVI- 


1^1  Ml)    III.,   A  I     I  in:   .\.,i:   m    ^i;\  i:n  i  \ . 
/•'/•'«//  an  ti/il  Kniji-iiriifj. 


xxix]  DISCUSSIONS   AT  CAMBRAI 

any  rule  of  that  country  in  Austrian  hands  (which 
the  Florentines  feared  was  now  contemplated) 
would  be  of  a  most  tyrannical  character ;  while 
in  any  case  it  was,  he  argued,  most  unfair  not  to 
allow  the  rule  of  Tuscany  to  pass,  after  Prince 
Giovanni  Gastone's  death,  to  his  sister,  the  Electress 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica,  she  being  eminently  quali- 
fied, both  in  character  and  ability,  to  govern  the 
country  well.  These  discussions  at  Cambrai  con- 
tinued all  through  the  years  1721  and  1722,  while 
the  negotiations,  intrigues,  and  secret  agreements 
between  the  various  powers  over  the  bone  of 
contention,  Tuscany,  were  interminable. 

Meanwhile  age  began  to  tell  upon  Cosimo. 
Worn  out  by  tliese  long  contests  over  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  country,  and  with  his  strength  failing 
now  that  he  was  approaching  eighty  years  of  age, 
he  abandoned  the  rule  of  the  state  entirely  to  his 
capable  daughter,  with  whose  control  of  affairs 
her  brother,  Gian  Gastone  (only  anxious  to  be 
left  in  his  beloved  seclusion),  had  no  desire  to 
interfere.  She  conducted  all  negotiations  with 
foreign  powers,  showed  a  capable  management  of 
home  affairs,  mitigated  the  harsher  aspects  of 
Cosimo's  laws,  and  spent  much  in  works  of  public 
benefit.  Her  conduct  was  widely  praised,  and  it 
became  a  general  wish  that  she  might  survive  her 
brother  and  succeed  to  the  throne.  So  that  her 
efforts  to  make  other  powers  accept  the  decree  of 
the  Florentine  Senate  were  vigorously  supported 
by  the  people  of  Tuscany.  The  memory  of  her 
mother's  youthful  sorrows  was  revived  in  September 
1721  by  the  death  of  the  Grand  Duchess  Marguerite 
Louise  at  Paris  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  ;  and  this 


484  COSIMO   III.  [chap. 

increased  the  regard  entertained  for  the  daughter 
of  a  princess  for  whom  the  Florentines  had  always 
felt   much  sympathy. 

In  1723,  the  discussions  at  Cambrai  showing 
that  whatever  other  arrangements  were  made 
between  the  leading  powers  of  Europe  they  were 
determined  to  adhere  to  their  unjust  treatment 
of  Tuscany,  Corsini  was  instructed  to  lodge  a  final 
solemn  protest,  with  the  object  of  asserting  the 
rights  of  Cosimo's  successor  and  of  making  the 
act  of  violence  on  which  the  powers  were  bent 
more  marked.  This  was  the  last  public  act  of 
Cosimo's  life  ;  and  on  the  31st  October  1723,  after 
handing  over  the  government  to  his  son  Gian 
Gastone,  Cosimo  III.  passed  away,^  after  a  reign 
of  fifty-three  years  in  which  (with  the  best  inten- 
tions) he  had  produced  nothing  but  evil  and  the 
utmost  national  misery. 


Cosimo  III.  is  an  example  of  how  a  character 
which  in  a  private  capacity  would  be  unobjection- 
able may  in  the  position  of  a  ruler  become  a  pattern 
of  everything  most  baneful.    In  a  private  sphere  he 

^  Owing  to  the  darkness  and  general  confusion  in  the  lower  crypt, 
and  to  his  coffin  having  no  distinguishing  marks  on  the  outside,  the 
thieves  failed  to  discover  it,  and  when  opened  in  1857  it  still  contained 
the  jewelled  crown  and  sceptre  buried  with  him.  "The  body  was 
clothed  in  the  great  cloak  of  Grand  Master  of  the  order  of  Santo 
Stefano,  and  by  his  side  the  sceptre.  On  the  head  was  the  royal 
crown,  worn  over  a  velvet  cap.  Under  the  cloak  the  body  was 
wrapped  in  a  black  silk  sheet,  and  had  near  the  head  a  large  gold 
medall'on,  and  another  similar  to  it  on  the  breast.  These  medallions 
had  on  one  side  his  likeness  and  name,  and  on  the  reverse  a  female 
figure  rep'-pseuting  Tuscany  seated  in  front  of  a  temple  inscribed  '  Paci', 
with  the  Grand  Duke  clad  in  armour  standing  before  her  and  making 
a  sign  that  it  should  remain  closed,  with  the  motto  'Sic  stabis.'" 
(Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum, 
1857.) 


XXIX.]  RESULTS   OF   HIS   CHARACTER  485 

would  have  been  a  very  ordinary  person,  and  prob- 
ably much  respected,  since  the  chief  defects  of  his 
character  would  never  in  that  case  have  had  any 
opportunity  of  developing.  Placed,  however,  on  a 
throne,  the  combined  effects  of  his  want  of  wisdom, 
vanity,  weakness,  bigotry,  and  tyranny  caused  him 
to  present  an  example  of  everything  that  is  worst 
in  a  ruler.  Under  him  joyous  and  light-hearted 
Tuscany  became  a  vale  of  tears.  Hating  his  sons, 
apparently  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  were 
each  in  their  different  ways  more  capable  than  him- 
self, he  ruined  both  their  lives  by  the  most  narrow- 
minded  domestic  tyranny.  Lastly,  Cosimo  III. 
was  the  first  of  his  house  who  by  his  conduct  as 
a  ruler  turned  the  poorer  classes  of  the  people 
against  him,  and  thereby  overthrew  that  which 
had  always  been  the  strongest  bulwark  of  his 
family.  Such  was  the  result  which  had  been 
produced  by  Ferdinand  II. 's  weakness  in  allowing 
his  eldest  son  to  be  brought  up  by  a  foolish  and 
incapable  mother  in  the  manner  that  he  did, 
whereby  evils  were  entailed  for  half  a  century, 
upon  both  the  country  and  the  family,  which  were 
appalling  in  their  magnitude  and  deplorable  in  their 
consequences. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

GIOVANNI  GASTONE 

Born  1671.     (Reigned  1723-1737.)     Died  1737. 

We  must  not  linger  over  the  remaining  years  of 
the  Medici,  for  their  sun  is  setting  fast,  and  setting 
in  deepest  gloom.  From  the  effects  of  such  a 
reign  as  that  of  Cosimo  III.  they  were  not  able 
to  recover,  and  the  fourteen  years'  reign  of  the 
last  Medici  Grand  Duke  has  little  to  show  us  upon 
which  it  is  pleasant  to  dwell. 

Gian  Gastone^  was  fifty-two  when  in  1723  he 
succeeded  to  a  throne  which  he  looked  upon  by 
no  means  as  an  object  of  desire,  but  rather  as  a 
distasteful  burden  which  he  would  have  escaped 
from  if  he  could,  grievously  interfering  as  it  did 
with  the  seclusion  to  which,  by  being  uniformly 
excluded  by  his  father  from  all  pubUc  affairs,  he 
had  grown  accustomed. 

Nevertheless  Gian  Gastone  set  himself  with 
commendable  perseverance  to  reform  the  many 
abuses  which  weighed  upon  the  country.  He 
dismissed  at  once  all  the  spies,  hypocrites,  and 
sycophants  who  had  surrounded  his  father ;  he 
annulled  at  a  stroke  the  long  Hst  of  pensions 
(called  "  Pensions  on  the  Creed ")  paid  to  Jews, 
Turks,  heterodox  Catholics,  heretical  Protestants, 
and  other  so-called  "  converts,"  which  had  formed 

^  Plate  XCVII.  This  portrait,  which  is  in  a  very  ruined  state,  is 
the  only  one  which  exists  of  Gian  Gastone  as  Grand  Duke.  He  wears 
on  the  front  of  his  dress  the  ci-oss  of  the  order  of  San  Stefano.  The 
crown  by  his  side  is  the  "  Royal "  crown  granted  to  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany  in  1691. 

486 


ri.ATE    XCVII. 


Burton] 


(ii((\A,\M    i.asi'o.m;,  sioio.M)  xi.N    (11    Ill-nil 

(l,AST    IMKl)I(;i    ORAM)    IH  KK). 


[i'lli-.;  <.-a/len/. 


PLATE  XCVIII. 


I'Rl.MF.SS    VIOI.ANTK    UKATRK  K    ((K    liA\Al{IA. 

Wife  of  Prince  IVnliiiaml.  aii<l  sister-in-law  of  Giovanni  (iastone.  at  the  age  of  thirty. 


CHAP.  XXX.]  VIOLANTE   BEATRICE  487 

a  heavy  item  in  the  national  expenditure ;  and 
by  other  similar  measures  set  himself  resolutely 
to  relieve  taxation.  He  abolished  the  organised 
system  of  espionage  which  had  so  long  been  estab- 
lished over  the  domestic  life  of  the  citizens ;  the 
prison  doors  were  opened,  and  prisoners  (most  of 
them  under  punishment  for  ecclesiastical  offences) 
set  at  liberty ;  penalties  were  remitted,  and  exiles 
allowed  to  return.  Imitating  the  example  of  his 
grandfather,  Ferdinand  II.,  Gian  Gastone  mixed 
freely  with  his  subjects  ;  and  to  assist  him  in  social 
matters  —  since  his  wife,  Anne  of  Saxe  -  Lauen- 
burg,  refused  to  live  in  Tuscany,  and  he  disliked 
his  arbitrary  sister,  the  Electress  —  he  installed 
his  widowed  sister-in-law,  the  Princess  Violante 
Beatrice,  as  dispenser  of  the  hospitalities  of  the 
court.  The  Royal  Palace  reawoke  to  life ;  the 
religious  gloom  which  had  long  hung  round  it 
.  was  swept  away ;  and  instead  of  the  dark-robed 
monks  who  had  pervaded  its  corridors  and  precincts, 
the  youth  and  beauty  of  Florence  were  once  more 
gathered  within  its  walls. 

The  Princess  Violante  ^  was  the  bright 
spot    in     Gian     Gastone's    reiffn.       Her     Y^°i^°*« 

\  ...  Beatrice 

virtues,  amiability,  and   good  sense  were         of 
invaluable  to  him.     In  a  short  time  she       ^^^^^ 
became   the   chief    influence,   not    only   in   social 
matters,  but   also  in   public   affairs ;   an  influence 
justly  deserved,  and  followed  by  the  best  results. 
She  was  universally  beloved;  possessing  considerable 

^  Plate  XCVIII.  This  portrait  is  specially  interesting,  it  havinjr  been 
supposed  that  no  portrait  of  Violante  Beatrice  existed.  It  was  found 
in  the  cellars  of  the  Uffizi,  and  has  now  been  placed  in  that  gallery. 


488  GIOVANNI  GASTONE  [chap. 

talents  she  was  a  zealous  patroness  of  literature 
and  of  genius  in  every  form,  her  sympathy  for  the 
poor  and  oppressed  was  continually  manifested, 
cheerfulness  followed  wherever  she  appeared,  and 
we  are  told,  "  she  was  equally  liked  by  the  learned, 
the  friendless,  and  the  gay."^  Her  many  virtues 
were  so  generally  acknowledged  that  Pope  Benedict 
XIII.  (1724-1730)  bestowed  on  her  the  Golden 
Rose.  Nor  were  any  found  who  did  not  consider 
this  unusual  honour  deserved. 

The  intrigues  of  the  chief  powers  of  Europe,  as 
to  which  of  them  should  become  the  possessor  of 
Tuscany  on  Gian  Gastone's  death,  still  continued ; 
and,  feeling  himself  powerless  to  oppose  them,  the 
latter  turned  his  chief  attention  to  securing  that 
whenever  the  throne  passed  into  other  hands  his 
sister's  inheritance  of  the  vast  private  property 
belonging  to  the  family  should  be  assured  to  her, 
and  to  obtaining  compensation  to  her  for  terri- 
torial or  other  possessions  of  the  State  which  had 
been  purchased  out  of  the  family's  private  fortune. 
The  former  category  included  their  various  palaces 
and  villas  crowded  with  precious  furniture  and 
countless  objects  of  art,  which  were  all  indis- 
putably the  private  property  of  the  family ;  while 
in  the  latter  category  were  included  the  whole 
of  the  artillery,  certain  ports  and  fortresses,  and 
the  town  and  district  of  Pontremoli.  In  this 
endeavour  Gian  Gastone  was  to  a  large  extent 
successful,  it  being  conceded  that  the  private 
property  of  the  family  would,  of  course,  be  in- 
herited by  his  sister ;  while  the  question  of  com- 
pensation for  possessions  of  the  State  which  had 

^  Napier. 


XXX.]  IMPROVED   CONDITIONS  489 

been  purchased  out  of  their  private  fortune  was 
left  for  future  settlement ;  though  in  the  end  the 
Medici  received  no  compensation  on  this  account. 

During  the  years  1724-1731  the  discussions 
and  negotiations  between  the  leading  powers  of 
Europe  over  the  Tuscan  succession  were  endless, 
Austria  refusing  to  consider  any  other  question 
until  this  was  settled,  while  Spain  endeavoured  in 
every  way  to  compel  Gian  Gastone  to  accept  Don 
Carlos  as  his  successor,  fear  of  Austria  alone  pre- 
venting her  from  sending  troops  into  the  country 
to  enforce  this.  Meanwhile  the  condition  of  the 
people  of  Tuscany  steadily  improved ;  Gian 
Gastone's  reduction  of  taxation,  his  abolition  of 
the  punishment  of  death,  his  destruction  of  the 
hated  system  of  domestic  espionage,  and  his  efforts 
for  the  amusement  of  the  people  had  brought  about 
gaiety  and  light-heartedness  in  place  of  gloom  and 
misery ;  commerce  and  agriculture  began  to  revive  ; 
while  the  Princess  Violante's  cheerfulness  spread 
itself  everywhere,  everything  which  could  create 
happmess  among  the  people  being  encouraged  by 
her. 

Nor  did  the  gloomy  prospects  of  Tuscany  in  the 
political  sphere  blacken  the  people's  whole  horizon. 
In  those  days  Florence  was  accustomed  from  time 
to  time  to  give  itself  up  to  a  simple  light-hearted 
enjoyment  which  helped  not  a  little  to  ameliorate 
adverse  political  conditions.  Thus  at  the  time  of 
the  annual  Carnival  in  particular  there  were  not 
only  processions  of  carriages  {corsi)  with  battles  of 
flowers  and  cojij'etti,  but  also  numerous  masked 
balls,  masquerades,  and  other  diversions  of  the  kind 
in  which  all  classes  joined.     During  Carnival  time 


490  GIOVANNI   GASTONE  [chap. 

masks  were  permitted  to  be  worn  both  at  the 
theatres  and  in  the  streets,  any  attempt  to  restrict 
this  being  much  resented  by  the  people.  The 
Uffizi  colonnade,  known  to  us  under  such  a  different 
aspect,  must  have  presented  a  singularly  animated 
and  picturesque  appearance  on  an  afternoon  pre- 
ceding one  of  these  masked  balls.  For  whenever 
a  masked  ball  was  to  take  place  in  the  evening 
it  was  customary  for  this  to  be  preceded  in  the 
afternoon  by  a  promenade  in  masks  and  dominoes 
under  this  colonnade,  such  promenades  being 
attended  by  all  classes,  and  even  the  Grand  Duke 
himself  sometimes  taking  part  in  them. 

But  a  shadow  was  cast  over  everything  by  the 
proceedings  of  the  various  powers  who  were  anxious 
for  Gian  Gastones  death,  each  bent  upon  being 
the  first  in  the  field  when  that  event  occurred. 
A  slight  illness  of  his  in  1728  was  at  once  repre- 
sented by  Spain  and  Austria  as  a  mortal  sickness ; 
whereupon  an  Imperial  edict  was  issued  calling 
on  the  Tuscans  when  Gian  Gastone  expired  to 
acknowledge  the  successor  appointed  by  Austria. 
The  Grand  Duke  remonstrated  against  such  a 
disturbance  of  his  government,  but  his  protests 
were  ignored.  In  the  following  year,  upon  his 
dislocating  his  ankle  by  a  fall,  reports  of  his  death 
were  again  spread.  Spain  assembled  a  fleet  and 
army  to  take  possession  of  Tuscany,  while  Austria 
sent  thirty  thousand  men  into  Lombardy,  com- 
manded by  Marshal  Daun,  who  offered  their 
services  to  the  Grand  Duke.  But  Gian  Gastone 
was  determined,  if  possible,  to  prevent  Tuscany 
from   being   desolated   by   war ;    he   declined   the 


XXX.]  SPAIN   AND   AUSTRIA  491 

offer,  and  temporised  with  Spain,  and  the  danger 
for  the  moment  passed  off,  Gian  Gastone  agreeing 
to  acknowledge  Don  Carlos  as  his  successor,  and 
Spain  offering  in  return  to  consent  to  the  Electress 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica  being  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet  with  the  title  of  Grand  Duchess. 

While  all  Europe  resoimded  with  prepara- 
tions for  war,  the  death  of  Pope  Benedict  XIII. 
started  a  fresh  series  of  negotiations.  Austria 
demanded  to  be  allowed  to  occupy  Milan,  while 
the  Spanish  fleet  threatened  to  seize  Leghorn. 
Gian  Gastone  still  refused  to  agree  to  the  occupa- 
tion of  any  part  of  Tuscany  by  either  of  the  rival 
powers,  but  began  to  be  weary  of  this  struggle 
against  contending  forces  whom  he  was  powerless 
to  resist.  And  the  death  of  Princess  Violante  ^  in 
1731,  amidst  the  tears  of  a  whole  nation,  completed 
his  despair.  He  had  never  wholly  relinquished  the 
vices  to  which  he  had  taken  during  his  father's  life- 
time, and  these  now  established  a  complete  hold 
over  him.  He  abandoned  public  affairs  almost 
entirely  to  his  ministers ;  an  infamous  favourite, 
Giuliano  Dami,  became  the  head  of  his  household, 
the  dispenser  of  honours,  and  the  sole  channel  of 
access  to  him  ;  and  retiring  from  public  view  Gian 

1  She  was  buried  by  her  own  desire  in  the  convent  of  Sta.  Teresa. 
But  during  the  time  of  the  French  occupation  of  Florence  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  her  remains  were  brought  thence 
and  interred  in  the  Medici  mausoleum.  Wlien  in  1857  the  Medici 
coffins  were  examined,  hers  "was  found  bound  with  a  red  cord  and 
stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  French  Emperor,  but  it  cont;iined  only 
bones  intermingled  with  fragments  of  lead.  On  the  night  of  the 
26th  February  lH.'>ii,  her  remains  were  again  restored  to  the  convent  of 
Sta.  Teresa,  being  borne  thither  in  the  royal  hearse  with  all  honour,  and 
laid  at  rest  in  the  nuns'  cemetery."  {Official  Report  on  the  ejcmnination 
of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.)  It  has  already  been  noted 
how  her  embalmed  lieart  was  found  in  another  coffin,  being  placed  by 
her  desire  in  that  of  her  husband  (chap.  xxix.  p.  479,  footnote). 


492  GIOVANNI   GASTONE  [chap. 

Gastone  sank  into  absolute  degradation,  becoming 
a  drunken  sensualist  seen  only  by  a  group  of  the 
vilest  companions,  "  spending  half  his  time  in  bed 
to  recover  from  the  effects  of  the  half  ill-spent  out 
of  it, "  and  seeking  diversion  in  the  company  of 
buffoons. 

Meanwhile  Spain  and  Austria  each  took  steps 
to  obtain  a  military  hold  of  the  country.  A  com- 
bined Spanish  and  British  fleet  seized  Leghorn, 
and  landed  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  Spaniards 
who  were  quartered  in  different  parts  of  Tuscany. 
Thereupon  the  Emperor  Charles  VI.  despatched 
an  Austrian  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  to 
enter  Tuscany  by  Pontremoli ;  and  a  struggle 
in  Tuscany  between  the  two  powers  was  only 
averted  by  Don  Carlos  being  called  away  to 
lead  a  Spanish  army  against  Naples,  Austria  at 
the  same  time  suffering  a  defeat  at  the  passage 
of  the  Po.  The  Emperor's  intention  was  to 
give  Tuscany,  if  he  obtained  it,  to  his  daughter, 
the  celebrated  Maria  Theresa.  The  Florentines, 
on  the  other  hand,  hated  the  idea  of  an  Austrian 
ruler,  and  if  they  were  not  to  have  one  of  their 
own  race,  infinitely  preferred  a  Spanish  to  an 
Austrian  one.  France  looked  only  at  what 
might  best  assist  her  views  in  regard  to  Milan 
and  Savoy;  while  England  and  Holland  desired 
peace  in  any  way  that  it  could  be  attained, 
regardless  of  what  consequences  might  result  to 
Tuscany. 

At  length,  in  October  1735,  an  agreement 
was  made  between  Austria,  France,  England,  and 
Holland,  as  the  basis  of  a  general  peace,  that  the 
Grand    Duchy   of    Tuscany   should    be   given   to 


xxx]  THE  SALE  OF  TUSCANY  493 

the  Emperor's  daughter,  Maria  Tlieresa  :  that  she 
should  be  married  to  Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine ; 
and  that  the  latter,  in  exchange  for  Tuscany, 
should  resign  Lorraine  to  France ;  Tuscany  thus 
becoming,  instead  of  Lorraine,  an  appanage  of 
the  house  of  Austria.  Spain  at  first  refused 
to  agree,  but  having  suffered  reverses  both  in 
Lombardy  and  Naples,  eventually  did  so  on  being 
given  a  quid  pro  quo  elsewhere.  And  in  January 
1736  this  agreement  between  the  five  powers  was 
ratified  at  the  Peace  of  Vienna. 

The  Florentines  were  furious  at  their  country 
being  thus  deliberately  sold  by  the  powers  of 
Europe,  and  the  more  so  at  being  after  all  handed 
over  to  an  Austrian  ruler,  predicting  that  they 
would  be  subjected  to  a  grinding  tyranny.^  Gian 
Gastone  sent  urgent  protests  to  London,  Paris, 
and  Vienna,  but  without  any  avail ;  he  was  looked 
on  by  the  powers  as  "  a  mere  object  of  sale." 
Weakened  in  mind  and  body  by  his  excesses, 
plunged  into  deepest  melancholy  at  the  fate  of 
his  country  and  family,  and  sinking  under  an 
accumulation  of  miseries,  he  left  his  ministers 
to  govern  the  country  as  they  chose.  On  the 
12th  February  173G  Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
was  married  to  Maria  Theresa,^  and  formally 
renounced  the  Duchy  of  I^orraine  in  exchange 
for  the  territories  of  the  JMedici  whenever  they 
should  become  vacant  by  Gian  Gastone's  death, 
the  arrangement  being  guaranteed  by  France  and 
Austria. 

*  'Fills  expectation  was  falsified  by  subsequent  events,  the  Austrian 
rule  over  Tuscany  proving  a  lenient  and  beneficent  one. 

'^  By  this  marriage  Francis  nine  years  later  became  Emperor. 


494  GIOVANNI   GASTONE  [chap.  xxx. 

In  January  1737,  in  accordance  with  the  above 
convention,  the  Spanish  garrisons  throughout 
Tuscany  were  withdrawn  and  Austrian  troops 
took  their  place,  General  Braitwitz  at  Florence 
and  General  Wachtendonk  at  Leghorn  swearing 
allegiance  to  the  Grand  Duke  on  the  5th  February 
1737.  But  Gian  Gastone  was  already  dying  of 
an  accumulation  of  diseases,  and  past  caring  who 
had  Tuscany.  One  last  act  his  love  of  science 
prompted  —the  erection  in  Sta.  Croce  of  the  monu- 
ment to  Galileo  and  removal  to  it  of  the  latter's 
remains  from  the  Medici  chapel  attached  to  that 
church.  The  first  public  act  of  the  first  Medici 
had  been  that  of  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the 
birthday  of  Art ;  the  last  public  act  of  the  last 
Medici  Grand  Duke  was  the  erection  of  a  due 
memorial  to  Science.  On  the  9th  July  1737 
Gian  Gastone  breathed  his  last  at  the  age  of 
sixty- six, ^  sincerely  regretted  by  the  people,  who 
had  greatly  benefited  by  his  principles  of  govern- 
ment, and  only  saw  his  vices  dimly  at  a  distance, 
while  they  mourned  at  the  passing  away  of  the  last 
ruler  over  Tuscany  belonging  to  their  own  race. 

1  He  is  buried  in  the  family  mausoleum.  As  in  the  case  of  that  of 
his  father,  his  coffin  escaped  discovery  by  the  thieves  who  subsequently 
plundered  the  Medici  coffins  (chap,  xxxii.  p.  515),  and  when  opened  in 
1857  was  found  unrifled.  "The  body  was  dressed  in  black  velvet,  with, 
over  this,  the  great  cloak  of  Grand  Master  of  the  order  of  Santo  Stefano. 
On  the  head  was  the  Grand  Ducal  crown,  worn  over  a  cap  ;  and  by 
his  side  the  sceptre.  But  the  crown  and  sceptre  were  corroded  by  the 
acids  which  had  been  used  in  embalming  the  body.  Round  the  neck 
was  a  rosary  with  a  gold  filigree  medal.  On  the  breast  and  near  the 
head  were  two  great  gold  medallions,  each  weighing  twelve  ounces. 
Tliese  had  on  one  side  a  symbolical  temple  in  ruins,  with  female  figures, 
representing  Art  and  Science,  weeping  ;  and  on  the  reverse  a  funeral 
urn  with,  resting  upon  it,  his  bust,  and  a  figure  representing  Hope 
letting  another  similar  bust  fall.  Round  tlie  border  was  his  name." 
{Official  Report  on  the  examination  of  the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum, 
1857.) 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

ANNA  MARIA  LUDOVICA 

("  THE    LAST    OF    THE    MEDICI  ") 

Born  1667.     Died  1743. 

The  Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica^  was  seventy- 
years  old  when  her  brother  Gian  Gastone  died. 
Married  at  twenty-four  to  the  Elector  Palatine 
of  the  Rhine,  she  had  filled  an  important  position 
for  twenty-six  years  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
and  her  return  as  a  widow  to  live  with  her  father 
Cosimo.  And  during  those  years  she  had  shown 
herself  to  be  a  woman  of  unusual  ability.  After 
her  father's  death  she  had,  during  the  fourteen 
years  of  her  brother's  reign,  lived  more  or  less  in 
retirement,  not  being  on  good  terms  with  him,  and 
feeling  shame  at  the  degradation  into  which  he 
sank  during  the  latter  part  of  his  reign.  Endowed 
with  more  energy  and  force  of  character  than 
either  of  her  brothers,  she  had  ruled  well  during 
the  few  years  that  her  father  had  left  the  go^'ern- 
ment  in  her  hands,  notwithstanding  that  she  was 
considerably  handicapped  by  the  style  of  adminis- 
tration which  he  had  established.     As   the  result 

1  Plate  XCIX.  This  portrait  of  tlie  P^lectress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica, 
standing  with  tiie  electoral  crown  by  her  side,  shows  her  as  slie  ^^as  at 
the  age  of  sixty.  The  manner  in  wliich  she  contrives  to  wear  tlie 
widow's  veil  required  by  the  custom  of  the  time,  and  yet  not  to  let 
it  interfere  witli  her  wearinji;-  a  jewelled  ornament  in  her  hair  is 
ingenious.     The  crown  was  buried  with  iier  (p.  507,  footnote^ 

495 


496  ANNA   MARIA    LUDOVICA  [chap. 

of  her  satisfactory  control  of  affairs  she  had  seen 
herself  earnestly  desired  by  the  people  of  Tuscany 
as  their  future  ruler,  and  had  seen  a  decree  passed 
by  the  Florentine  Senate  assuring  the  throne  to 
her  on  her  brother's  death ;  and  she  had  also  seen 
that  decree  spurned  and  over-ridden  by  the  chief 
powers  of  Europe,  herself  and  her  ancient  family 
insulted,  and  the  independence  of  her  country 
trampled  upon.  She  was  now  to  see  the  final 
stage  in  that  process,  and  the  inauguration  of  a 
foreign  rule  over  Tuscany ;  even  the  promise  that 
in  any  new  government  established  she  should  be 
a  member  of  the  Council  and  have  the  rank  and 
title  of  Grand  Duchess  being  set  aside. 

It  would  all  have  been  hard  enough  for  an 
exceptionally  proud  woman  like  the  Electress  Anna 
to  endure  if  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke  had  pro- 
ceeded to  occupy  in  person  the  throne  which  her 
grandfather's  great-grandfather  had  created.  It 
was  made  many  times  worse  by  the  kind  of  rule 
which  was  set  up. 

Upon  Gian  Gastone's  death  the  new  Grand 
Duke,  Francis  II.,  came  to  Florence  and  formally 
took  possession  of  the  state,  but  after  a  month 
or  two  departed  to  A^ienna,  and  thenceforth  left 
the  government  of  Tuscany  to  be  permanently^ 
administered  (or  mal-administered)  by  an  agent, 
a  certain  JNI.  de  Beauveu,  who  was  given  the  title 
of  Prince  de  Craon.     Both  he  and  his  wife  were 

^  Tuscany  continued  to  be  ruled  in  this  way^  as  a  mere  province 
of  Austria,  for  the  whole  of  the  next  twenty-eight  years  ;  until  in  1765 
the  Empress  Maria  Theresa's  third  son,  Pietro  Leopoldo,  was  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  made  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  came  to  conduct  the 
government  in  person. 


PLATE    XCIX. 


\s\\i  tAI 

\  f^        (,()\wi  (II  M  \';  I  f  I-'.  r)/(  IS  I  ii.i\n 
^    )       PAt\;/v  \i)  liiiiAN  ^1,   i;i,i.(  iiud       ^ 
' -^   /  "«m(.i;oi(\  M   nuNcii'VM    \  i  ii^i^^\    -    ^ 

Uer'^  ^'^OU    IIVNT    ll(IM\  M     \(AMI"^'     ^^ ,' 

'""■:ih;m,    iii;li(.to,     loin  pirri  !;V'^  jl 

"'•"<\V.V  MKiiicKv.   l'<»iA/i'i'v    t'X»\^'"'"  '  / 


Tin:    KI.KITUKSS    ANNA    .■\IAHIA    M  IXIVK  A,    AI      Illi:    AfiK    (11"    SIXTV.    AS    A    WIlHiW. 

lleprofiiiC'il  In/  piriiiissioii  of  the  MdirJn-.-n  I'lrnzzid''  MffHii. 
Jiurtvii'l 


xxxr.j  THE   NEW  REGIME  497 

persons  of  exceedingly  low  birth  and  manners ; 
yet  they  assumed  vice-regal  airs,  lived  in  the  Royal 
Palace,  and  maintained  a  third-rate  kind  of  court, 
the  chief  feature  of  which  was  its  vulgarity.  All 
posts  in  the  new  administration  were  speedily  filled 
with  Lorrainers,  and  the  Tuscans  had  occular 
demonstration  at  every  turn  that  they  were  now 
under  a  foreign  rule.  The  meanness,  the  corrup- 
tion, and  the  degraded  character  of  this  collection 
of  needy  place-hunters  are  graphically  described 
in  the  letters  of  the  first  English  ambassador  ever 
sent  to  the  court  of  Tuscany,^  which  show  that 
as  far  as  corruption  in  the  administration  was 
concerned,  the  country  had  gained  nothing  by  the 
change. 

With  a  court  of  this  description  established 
in  the  Palace,  there  ensued  a  total  decline  in 
tlie  dignity  which  even  in  the  worst  days  of 
Cosimo  III.  and  Gian  Gastone  had  ever  been 
accustomed  to  reign  there.  Horace  Mann  remarks 
on  the  entire  inability  of  the  new  regime  to  main- 
tain a  due  ceremony  even  on  grand  occasions,  and 
says : — "  They  seem  to  forget  the  example  of  the 
Medici,  the  ceremony  of  whose  court  put  it  in 
their  power  to  make  a  figure  in  things  of  more  im- 
portance." Added  to  this  the  ignorance  and  want 
of  taste  of  the  newcomers  in  all  matters  relating 
to  Art  was  colossal ;  and  this,  while  specially 
irritating  to  the  Florentines,  often  had  the  most 
ridiculous  results.     Among   other   demonstrations 

'  Hoiace  Maim  was  sent  as  the  first  F^iifi^lish  ambassador  to  the 
court  of  Tuscany  in  ]741,  four  years  after  Gian  Gastonc's  dcatli.  His 
copious  letters  to  Horace  Walpole  (wliich  hcirin  at  once  on  liis  arrival 
at  Florence)  are  therefore  tlie  l)est  available  evidence  as  to  the  social 
and  political  conditions  whicli  succeeded  those  which  had  existed  under 
the  Medici  Grand  Dukes. 

VOL.    II.  2  1 


498  ANNA  MARIA  LUDOVICA  fcHAP. 

of  this  want  of  a  quality  which  every  Medici 
had  possessed,  the  arrangement  of  the  pictures  in 
the  Palace  offered  a  conspicuous  example.  These 
were  rearranged  on  a  new  principle,  the  two 
guiding  rules  of  which  were,  first,  the  degree 
of  freshness  of  the  gilding  on  the  frames,  and, 
second,  the  position  of  the  figures  in  the  picture, 
which  figures  must  not  turn  their  backs  towards 
the  throne. 

It  was  no  wonder,  the  new  Government  being 
of  this  description,  that  the  Electress  Anna  (the 
descendant  of  a  race  which  even  in  their  decay 
had  still  been  distinguished)  kept  herself  aloof 
from  such  a  company.  She  occupied  her  own 
separate  portion  of  the  Palace,  and  had  no 
relations  with  the  new  Grand  Duke's  agent  and 
his  wife. 

"  She  lived  retired ;  but  it  was  a  retirement 
of  the  utmost  splendour.  All  that  art  and  in- 
genuity could  supply  and  money  purchase  the  aged 
daughter  of  Cosimo  gathered  round  her — ^jewels, 
precious  metals,  costly  attire — the  mass  of  these 
was  immense."^ 

Moreover,  she  still  continued  to  add  pictures  to 
the  Uffizi  Gallery.  As  a  child  she  had  known  her 
great-uncle.  Cardinal  Leopold,  and  had  imbibed 
some  of  the  ideals  which  animated  him,  and 
nearly  all  the  pictures  of  the  Flemish  and 
German  schools  which  the  Uffizi  Gallery  possesses 
were  added  to  it  by  her." 

1  Horace  Mann's  letters  to  Horace  Walpole. 

2  "  She  was  herself  an  artist,  something  more  than  an  amateur,  and 
had  added  a  picture  by  hei'self  to  the  masterpieces  in  the  great  gallery." 

—(Mann). 


XXXI.]  HER   LIFE   IN   RETIREMENT  499 

The  amount  that  this  daughter  of  the  Medici 
spent  in  charity  astounded  the  Enghsh  ambas- 
sador ;  "  1,000  zechins  a  month,  often  more."^  As 
three  zechins  made  £1  sterling,  this  represented 
£4,000  a  year,  equal  at  the  present  value  of  money 
to  considerably  more ;  and  even  this,  he  says,  she 
often  exceeded.  No  wonder  the  poor  wept  incon- 
solably  when  she  died.  She  continued  to  maintain 
to  some  extent  the  state  to  which  she  had  been 
accustomed  in  former  days.  The  poet  Gray,  who 
was  presented  to  her  in  1740,  describes  her  as 
receiving  him  "  with  much  ceremony,  standing 
under  a  huge  black  canopy,"  and  as  "  never  going 
out  but  to  church,  and  then  with  guards  and 
eight  horses  to  her  coach."' 

Thus  did  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  de'  Medici 
maintain  in  all  ways  the  name  of  her  family. 
However  much  that  name  had  suffered  discredit 
through  others,  it  suffered  none  through  her.  And 
whether  in  regard  to  ruling  with  ability,  the 
encouragement  of  all  forms  of  art,  a  generous 
liberality  to  the  poor,  or  the  maintenance  of  a 
proper  dignity,  she  showed  herself  a  worthy 
descendant  of  the  best  of  those  who  had  gone 
before. 

The  object,  however,  which  chiefly  engaged 
both  her  time  and  her  money  was  the  completion 
of  the  family  mausoleum.  The  work  had  somewhat 
languished  during  the  reigns  of  Cosimo  III.  and 
Gian  Gastone,  but  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  applied 
all  her  energies  and  the  greater  part  of  her  large 
income  to  completing  it  as  far  as  possible  during 
the  few  years  of  life  that  remained  to  her.     Her 

*  Horace  Mauu's  letters  to  Horace  ^Valpole. 


500  ANNA  MARIA  IJJDOVICA  [chap. 

health  was  failing ;  she  knew  she  had  but  a  short 
time ;  and  she  pressed  on  this  work  vigorously, 
giving  to  it  as  much  as  "  1,000  crowns  a  week,"' 
and  in  her  will  leaving  a  large  sum  to  be  invested 
in  order  to  provide  a  regular  income  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  building  according  to  the  original 
design.^  There  is  something  both  pathetic  and 
fine  in  the  sight  of  this  lonely  and  childless 
woman,  the  last  of  her  race,  steadily  labouring 
in  the  midst  of  disappointment,  sorrow,  and  ill- 
health,  to  complete  the  mausoleum  of  her  ancestors 
before  death  should  call  her  away  to  follow 
them. 

The  parting     ^^*  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  did  some- 
gif*-  thing  more  noteworthy  than  this.     Her 

chief  act  was  one  as  fine  under  the  circumstances 
as  anything  the  Medici  did  throughout  their 
history.  And  by  it  she  caused  their  sun,  so  long 
enveloped  in  dark  clouds  and  impenetrable  gloom, 
to  shine  out,  as  it  sank,  in  one  departing  ray  of 
most  resplendent  glory.  She  hated  the  new 
dynasty ;  she  felt  that  her  family  had  been 
grievously  treated  by  not  being  allowed  to  leave 
the  throne  of  Tuscany  to  whomsoever  they  con- 
sidered had  the  best  right  to  it ;  she  felt  herself 
still  more  grievously  ill  used  in  not  being  allowed 
to  succeed  her  brother  as  Grand  Duchess  in  her 
own  right ;  while  the  sore  feelings  thus  created 
were  daily  kept  alive  by  the  conduct  of  the 
ignoble  court  occupying  the  palace  which  had  been 
built  by  her  family  and  been  their  home  for  two 

^  Mann. 

'^  See  the  codicil  added  for  this  purpose  to  her  will  (p.  509). 


XXXI.]  A    WORraV    DESCENDANT  501 

hundred  years.  But  at  the  same  time  she  loved 
Tuscany ;  she  was  keenly  mindful  of  her  family's 
long  and  honourable  connection  with  that  country  ; 
and  she  was  determined  that,  whatever  her  father 
and  brother  had  been,  she  at  least  would  support 
that  connection  with  honour  to  the  very  end.  And 
so  she  made  that  splendid  gift  which  should  make 
her  name  ever  honoured  in  Florence. 

Far  -  reaching  memories  and  mingled  feelings 
must  have  filled  the  mind  of  Anna  Maria  Ludovica 
as,  last  solitary  owner  of  the  greatest  collection  of 
art  treasures  in  the  world,  she  wandered  through 
the  long  galleries  of  the  UfRzi  and  the  Pitti  sur- 
rounded by  this  mass  of  pictures,  statues,  bronzes, 
rare  gems,  and  other  works  of  art,  the  earliest  of 
them  executed  for  Cosimo,  Piero,  and  Lorenzo, 
the  latest  added  to  the  collection  by  herself,  and 
thought  over  what  she  had  determined  on  doing 
with  this  great  inheritance. 

The  convention  between  the  powers  which  had 
assigned  the  throne  to  a  foreign  prince  had  not 
touched  the  vast  private  property  of  the  family, 
including  the  countless  objects  of  art  and  other 
valuable  things  with  which  their  palaces,  villas, 
and  picture  -  galleries  were  crowded  ;  and  to  all 
these  she  had  succeeded  on  her  brother's  death. 
The  whole  of  this  invaluable  collection  of  treasures 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica  now  gave  to  the  state  of 
Tuscany  for  ever,  in  the  person  of  the  new  Grand 
Duke  and  his  successors,  on  condition  that  none  of 
it  should  ever  be  removed  from  Florence,  and  that 
it  should  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  of  all 
nations} 

^  Article  III.  of  the  document  in  which  Her  Serene  Hip^hness  the 
Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  makes  this  gift  to  Tuscany. 


502  ANNA  MARIA  LUDOVICA  [chap. 

What  the  value  in  money  of  this  truly  royal 
gift  may  be  is  probably  beyond  computation.  It 
included,  with  much  besides  :  ^ — 

(a)  The   whole   of    the   pictures   and   statues 

which  were  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  the 
Royal  Palace,  the  Villa  Medici  at  Rome, 
and  the  other  villas  of  the  family, 
and  now  forming  the  Uffizi  and  Pitti 
Galleries. 

(b)  The    rare   collection   of    gems   and   other 

objects  of  art,  now  in  the  Gem  Room 
of  the  Uffizi  Gallery. 

(c)  A   great   collection   of    cameos,    engraved 

gems,  and  similar  articles,  now  in  the 
museum  of  the  Bargello,  and  including 
the  celebrated  collection  of  coins  and 
medallions  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
the  oldest  in  Europe. 

(d)  Statues  and  busts  by  Donatello,  Verrocchio, 

Mino  da  Fiesole,  and  other  notable 
sculptors,  now  in  the  museum  of  the 
Bargello. 

(e)  A  great  collection  of  bronzes,  now  in  the 

museum  of  the  Bargello. 
(/)  The  New  Sacristy,  with  the  masterpieces 

of  Michelangelo. 
(g)  The  whole  of  the  contents  of  the  Library 

of  the  Palace,  and  the  Medici  Library 

in  San  Lorenzo. 
{h)  A    large     and     important     collection     of 

Egyptian     and     Etruscan     antiquities, 

^  It  is  not  meant  to  imply  that  there  have  not  been  other  works  of 
art  added  to  these  galleries  and  museums  since^  but  these  additions  are 
in  proportion  insignificant. 


XXI.]  THE   PARTING   GIFT  503 

now  forming  the  chief  part  of  the 
Egyptian  and  Etruscan  JNIuseums, 
the  Etruscan  portion  being  specially 
valuable. 

(i)  A  valuable  collection  of  majolica,  Urbino- 
ware,  Faenza-ware,  rare  suits  of  armour, 
and  curious  and  valuable  arms,  now 
in  the  museum  of  tlie  Bargello. 

(j)  A  large  collection  of  valuable  tapestries, 
now  forming  the  Galleria  degli  Arazzi. 

(A*)  The  valuable  tables  of  pietra  dura  work, 
cabinets,  and  other  precious  furniture, 
now  in  the  Uffizi  and   Pitti  Galleries. 

(/)  The  inlaid  tables,  valuable  cabinets, 
tapestry,  and  other  similar  articles  now 
in  the  Royal  apartments  of  the  Pitti 
Palace. 

{m)  The  gold  dessert  service,  gold  and  silver 
ornaments,  rare  china,  valuable  plate, 
croziers  and  crucifixes  in  i\ory  and 
amber,  the  mitre  with  miniatures  made 
of  humming-birds'  feathers  which  had 
belonged  to  Clement  VII.,  priceless 
works  in  niello,  handsome  goblets  and 
vases  by  Benvenuto  Cellini,  and  many 
other  heirlooms  of  the  family,  all  now 
in  the  Treasure  Room  of  the  Pitti 
Palace. 

[n)  The  reliquaries  and  other  ornaments  of 
the  Grand  Ducal  chapel  in  the  Pitti 
Palace. 

(o)  The  immense  Medicean  wardrobe  of  costly 
robes  and  dresses  for  state  occasions.^ 

^  See  p.  605. 


504  ANNA  MARIA  LUDOVICA  [chap. 

From  Poggio  Imperiale,  from  Castello,  from 
Petraia,  frora  Cafaggiolo,  from  Poggio  a  Caiano, 
from  the  Villa  Medici  at  Rome,  from  every  habita- 
tion that  the  Medici  had  occupied,  poured  in  for 
many  years  afterwards  this  great  collection  of 
objects  of  art  to  be  gathered  in  the  galleries 
and  museums  of  Florence  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  this  gift ;  terms  to  which  Florence  owes 
it  that  these  treasures  have  not  been  long  since 
either  dispersed,^  or  removed  to  Vienna  or  Rome. 
The  Medici  themselves  have  passed  away,  but 
their  works  live  on.  And  of  all  that  they  have 
left  behind  them  as  a  record  of  the  spirit  which 
animated  them,  nothing  can  surpass  that  which 
a  whole  world  enjoys  through  the  gift  which 
was  their  last  act,  and  which  the  traditions  of 
their  house  and  the  principles  implanted  long 
before  by  its  founder  caused  them  to  present  to 
their  nation,  even  when  smarting  under  a  sense 
of  injustice  and  disappointment. 

Speaking  of  this  action,  an  Italian  writer  of 
the  present  day  has  said : — 

"  By  this  act  the  Princess  Anna  Maria,  in 
securing  to  the  country  so  much  that  was  most 
notable  of  its  art,  acquired  a  truly  imperishable 
title  to  the  gratitude  of  Italy,  and  one  which 
deserved  to  outweigh  and  make  forgiven  many 
faults  of  her  ancestors."^ 

It  is  when  one  looks  at  the  Florence  of  to-day, 
without  manufactures  or  the  business  of  a  seaport 
and  yet  so  prosperous  a  city,  that  one  realises  what 
this  gift  (with  all  the  others  previously  given  by 

1  In  the  same  manner  as  the  valuable  collections  once  possessed  by 
Modeua,  Mantua,  and  Ferrara  have  been. 

'^  GH  ultinii  dei  Medici,  by  Emilio  Robiony  (1905). 


XXXI.]  HER   TITLE  TO   GRATITUDE  505 

the  Medici)  has  meant  to  her.  That  prosperity 
entirely  depends  on  Florence's  power  to  attract 
visitors  from  other  countries ;  without  that  power 
she,  the  second  city  of  Italy,  would  sink  back  at 
once  to  the  level  of  her  ancient  rival  Lucca.  And 
were  all  that  the  Medici  gave  to  Florence  taken 
away^  the  whole  of  that  influx  of  visitors  from 
other  countries  would  cease.  For  her  three  great 
churches  would  not  by  themselves  attract  it ;  and 
even  San  Marco  would  be  gone.^  So  that  Anna 
Maria  Ludovica,  little  as  she  could  have  reahsed 
all  that  its  consequences  would  be,  by  this  parting 
gift  in  the  name  of  her  family  did  the  very  best 
thing  she  could  have  done  to  ensure  the  future 
prosperity  of  Florence.  Yet  in  the  city  which 
her  action  has  thus  enriched  her  very  name  is 
almost  unknown.  No  statue  of  her  adorns  any 
of  its  open  spaces ;  no  gallery  or  museum  of  all 
those  which  she  has  to  a  great  extent  filled,  and 
protected  from  having  their  contents  removed  to 
other  cities,  has  her  name  written  over  its  doors 
or  any  bust  or  picture  of  her  placed  in  honour 
on  its  walls.  And  thousands  interested  in  art 
pass  through  Florence  every  season,  or  even  leave 
that  city  after  long  residence  there,  witliout  ever 
having  heard  her  name. 

Of  the  items  included  in  this  gift  the  last,  the 
Medicean  wardrobe,  was  not  permanently  retained.^ 
Some  thirty  years  afterwards,  in  the  time  of  tlie 
Grand  Duke  Pietro  Leopoldo  (the  first  of  the 
Austrian  Grand  Dukes  who  was  a  resident  ruler  of 

1  Libraries,  museums,  and  galleries  of  art,  with  inucli  more  Itesiiles. 

-  Vol.  i.  pp.  mm. 

*  The  terms  of  the  jrift  had  specially  allowed  this  item  to  be  at  the 
free  disposal  of  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke. 


506  ANNA  MARTA  LUDOVICA  [ohap. 

Tuscany)  it  was  broken  up  and  sold.  And  some 
idea  of  the  magnificence  customary  in  what  we 
now  know  as  the  Pitti  Palace  in  the  time  of  the 
Medici  Grand  Dukes  is  given  us  by  the  details  of 
this  sale,  which  on  account  of  the  mass  of  \'aluable 
things  to  be  disposed  of  continued  monthly  for  ten 
years.     Napier  says : — 

"  Nor  was  the  ancient  Medicean  wardrobe, 
which  had  long  reposed  in  idle  splendour,  more 
spared  by  the  stern  frugality  of  Leopold.  .  .  . 
Almost  every  residence  of  the  Medici  throughout 
Tuscany  had  its  peculiar  wardrobe,  independent 
of  the  great  magazine  of  Medicean  splendour  in 
Florence,  and  all  were  now  exposed  to  public 
sale.  Velvets,  damasks,  gold  embroideries,  chairs 
and  mirror  frames  of  massive  silver,  gold  brocades, 
rich  lace,  fringes,  and  costly  silken  fabrics,  were 
either  sold  to  the  public  or  condemned  to  the 
crucible.  Gian  Gastone's  state  bed,  embroidered 
throughout  w^th  a  profusion  of  beautiful  pearls 
and  other  gems,  was  picked  to  pieces,  and  many 
exquisite  works  in  jewellery  and  precious  metals, 
the  symbols  of  Medicean  taste  and  magnificence, 
were  all  broken  up  or  otherwise  disposed  of  to 
the  amount  of  half  a  million  of  crowns."^ 

Anna  Maria  T^idovica  had  not  to  endure  for 
many  years  the  daily  mortifications  resulting  from 
the  establishment  of  a  foreign  rule  over  her  country. 
In  1742,  five  years  after  that  rule  had  been  set 
up,  her  health  begaa  to  give  way.  She  suffered 
much  from  dropsy,  and  felt  that  she  had  not 
much  longer  to  live.  Having  still  a  large  amount 
of  personal  property  to  dispose  of,  including  her 
own   wearing  jewels,  the   contents   of  her   ward- 

^  Napier's  Florentine  Hklory,  vol.  vi.  p.  197. 


XXXI  ]  HER   DEATH  507 

robes,  the  furniture  of  her  rooms,  china,  plate, 
and  nearly  £2,000,000  sterling  in  money,  she  set 
about  adding  various  codicils  to  the  will  which 
she  had  made  some  three  years  before.  And 
desiring  to  leave  some  portion  of  her  property  to 
her  next-of-kin,  whoever  he  might  be,  she  had 
drawn  up  for  her  a  genealogical  tree  showing, 
not  only  the  historic  INIedici,  the  descendants  of 
Giovanni  di  Bicci,  of  whom  she  was  the  last, 
but  also  the  collateral  brandies  of  the  family.^ 
By  its  means,  retracing  her  family  for  some  four 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  back  to  Salvestro,  the 
grandfather  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci, ^  she  discovered 
that  a  descendant  of  Salvestro's  brother  Giovenco, 
a  certain  Pietro  Paolo  de'  Medici,  was  her  nearest 
of  kin,  though  not,  of  course,  a  descendant  of  the 
historic  Medici ;  whereupon  she  added  a  clause  to 
her  will  declaring  him  her  heir  and  leaving  him 
a  portion  of  her  property.  She  only  lived  a  few 
months  after  completing  these  final  testamentary 
dispositions;  and  on  the  18th  February  1743,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-six,  Anna  INIaria  Ludovica,  the 
last  remaining  descendant  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci, 
passed  away,^  and  the  family  which  he  had  founded, 

1  This  very  interesting  old  document,  reproduced  here  for  the  first 
time  by  the  kind  permission  of  the  Marchesa  Peruzzi  de'  Medici,  is 
shown  in  Appendix  XV. 

^  See  Appendix  II. 

2  When  in  1857  her  coffin  was  opened,  tlie  body  was  found  "  wrapped 
in  a  silk  sheet,  under  wliich  '.vp-s  a  handsome  dress  of  violet-coloured 
velvet.  On  the  head  was  the  Electoral  crown,  which  was  fixed  to  the 
head  with  a  lonjr  silver  pin.  On  the  breast  was  a  large  g-old  medallion, 
with  on  one  side  her  likeness  and  name,  and  on  the  other  the  sun 
irradiatiiiij  the  world,  with  the  motto  Dijfu.'-o  luniine.  "  Behind  the 
head,  eni;raved  on  a  plate  of  copper,  was  a  lon^r  Ijatin  inscrij)tion  of 
forty-four  lines  describing  her  pfood  deeds  and  hifrh  character,  the  sorrow 
she  had  had  to  bear  in  seeinji^  all  of  her  family  die  before  her  and  their 
line  brought  to  an  end,  lier  sjdendid  jj-ift  to  Tuscany  of  all  the  art 
collections  of  the  family,  and  tlie  fortitude  with  which  she  had  endured 
lier  disappointments  nnd  sorrows.  {Official  Report  on  the  examination  of 
the  Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum.     1857.) 


508  ANNA  MARIA  LUDOVICA  [chap. 

and   whicli    had    had    such   a   long    and   eventful 
history,  was  extinct. 

The  chief  provisions  of  Anna  Maria  Ludovica's 
will  and  its  codicils  are  briefly  detailed  by  the 
English  Ambassador,  Horace  Mann,  as  follows : — 

(1)  All   her   courtiers   and    servants   to   have 

their  salaries  for  life. 

(2)  Pensions  to  her  four  executors. 

(3)  To  pay  the  above  pensions  and  salaries,  a 

large  sum  of  money  deposited  in  the 
bank  of  Sta.  Maria  Nuova. 

(4)  To  the  Marquis  Rinuncini  (the  principal 

executor)  her  lands  in  the  State  of 
Urbino,  and  a  considerable  legacy  of 
much  of  the  rich  furniture  in  her 
Audience  Room. 

(5)  Her  china,  half  to  young  Rinuncini,  and 

half  to  Coroni. 

(6)  To   the    Marquis    Guadagni,   to    Siristori, 

and  to  Bardi  (her  other  three  executors) 
besides  their  pensions,  very  rich  presents 
in  silver. 

(7)  To  Madame  Uguccioni,  her  mistress  of  the 

robes,  the  whole  of  the  contents  of  a 
room  containing,  besides  many  other 
things,  velvet  brocades,  linen,  etc., 
valued  at  10,000  crowns,  and  a  toilet 
service  of  gold. 

(8)  To  all  her  maids-of-honour  presents,  and 

the  usual  fortunes  in  case  of  marriage. 

(9)  To   the    Austrian    Grand    Duke   she   left 

the  whole  of  her  own  wearing  jewels, 
*'  annexing  them  to  those  of  the  State 


XXXI.]  HER    WILL  609 

of  Tuscany,  with  which  they  are  to 
descend.  Their  value  in  present  money 
is  supposed  about  £500,000.  Besides 
this  the  Grand  Duke  is  left  heir  to  a 
thousand  other  things."  ^ 

(10)  To  her  "  piu  prossimo  agnato  "  (nearest  of 

kin),  Pietro  Paolo  de'  Medici,-  30,000 
crowns  ;  and  as  other  pensioners  die  ofi', 
their  pensions  to  go  to  him  and  his  heirs 
till  the  sum  is  made  up  to  100,000 
crowns.  Also  jewels  and  plate  valued 
at  about  150,000  crowns. 

(11)  Presents    in    jewels    to    the    Queen    of 

Hungary  (Maria  Theresa),  to  Prince 
Charles,  and  to  several  princes  of 
Germany. 
^12)  Also  a  very  large  legacy  to  the  Prince  of 
Salzbach  (Elector  Palatine). 
A  codicil,  dated  7th  October  1739,  pro- 
vided that  on  the  death  of  legatees 
who  were  given  pensions  under  the  will, 
"  the  portions  of  the  estate  set  free  by 
their  death  are  to  be  invested  by  the 
executors  in  sound  securities,  and  the 
interest  of  such  investments  to  be 
devoted  to  carrying  on,  finishing  and 
perfecting  the  Royal  Mausoleum  situ- 
ated behind  the  choir  of  the  venerable 

^  One  of  these  was  the  large  and  richly  ornamentefl  cabinet  which 
was  presented  to  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  by  the  city  of  I'aris,  and  is  now 
to  be  seen  in  tlio  hall  in  the  I'itti  Palace  which  was  the  Throne  Room 
of  the  Medici  (irand  Dukes.  It  contiiins  in  the  centre  compartment  a 
statuette  of  her  husband,  the  Elector  \\Mlliam,  and  the  two  side  com- 
partments when  opened  disclose  two  miniature  ball-rooms,  their  walls 
lined  with  looking-fjlasses,  and  in  the  centre  of  each  little  ball-room  a 
group  of  Cupids  dancing,  giving  a  very  pretty  eHVct. 

^  Is'ee  Appendix  XVI. 


510  ANNA    MARIA    LUDOVICA        [chap.  xxxi. 

church  of  San  Lorenzo  with  the  same 
excellence  and  preciousness  employed 
up  to  the  present,  and  on  the  plan  of 
the  models  and  designs  which  have 
been  made."' 

On  the  night  of  the  22nd  February  a  stately 
funeral,  accompanied  by  every  accessory  which  could 
heighten  its  melancholy  grandeur,  and  surrounded 
by  so  great  a  inass  of  torches  that  they  lighted  up 
the  entire  street  as  the  procession  moved  along,^ 
left  the  Royal  Pala(;e,  and  passed  slowly  down  the 
Via  Maggio,  over  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita,  and 
along  the  Via  Tornabuoni  to  the  mausoleum 
behind  San  Lorenzo.  "  The  body  was  conveyed 
in  a  sort  of  coach,  quite  open,  and  with  a  canopy 
over  the  head."^  It  was  the  funeral  given  by  the 
orders  of  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke  to  her  who 
had  hoped  to  die  Grand  Duchess  of  Tuscany  in 
her  own  right.  Thus  with  solemn  pomp,  and 
amidst  the  tears  of  the  many  poor  whom  she 
had  assisted,  was  laid  with  her  ancestors  in  that 
mausoleum  where  none  any  more  were  to  be 
buried,  one  who  had  maintained  not  unworthily 
the  honour  of  her  family,  and  whose  tomb  bears 
the  inscription,  "  The  last  of  the  royal  race  of  the 
Medici." 

^  This,  however,  was  not  done  so  far  as  the  interior  decoration  of 
the  dome  was  concerned  (see  chap.  xxvi.  p.  357). 

^  Mann  says  that  the  number  of  torches  was  so  great  that  their 
cost  amounted  to  12,000  crowns. 

*  Horace  Mann's  letters. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

SAN  LORENZO  AND  THE  TOMBS  OF  THE 
MEDICI 

And  so  the  long  story  of  the  Medici  closes ;  and 
closes  where  it  began,  in  that  "venerable  church 
of  San  Lorenzo, "  ^  which  they  built  and  en- 
dowed, and  which  gathers  in  itself  all  the  threads 
of  their  chequered  history  during  the  three 
hundred  and  forty-three  years  which  lie  between 
the  tomb  of  Giovanni  di  Bicci  in  the  Old  Sacristy 
and  that  of  Anna  Maria  Ludovica  in  the  crypt  of 
the  mausoleum  behind  the  choir.  In  this  church 
they  were  baptized  as  children,  married  as  young 
men  and  girls,  and  buried  when  their  lives  came 
to  an  end  ;  for  family  tradition  required  that  they 
should  all  be  laid  at  last  in  San  Lorenzo.  And 
here  the  black  threads  of  tragedy  and  sorrow,  the 
blue  ones  of  love  and  happiness,  and  the  golden 
ones  of  gratified  ambition  mingle  and  cross  each 
other  in  the  great  tapestry  of  this  family's  long 
romance. 

Here  in  this  church  of  San  Lorenzo,  soon  after 
its  rebuilding  was  finished,  was  seen  the  first  great 
mourning  of  the  family,  when  Cosimo's  favourite 
son,  Giovanni,  died ;  soon  followed  by  the  funeral 
of  Cosimo  himself  (1464).  Here  four  years  later 
took    place   the   splendid    marriage   of  the   young 

1  Plate  C. 

511 


512  SAN    LORENZO  [<'«*»'• 

Lorenzo  to  Clarice  Orsini,  when  the  whole  city 
gave  itself  up  to  feasting  and  delight.  A  few 
years  later  we  have  a  far  different  scene  in  San 
Lorenzo ;  it  is  after  the  murder  at  High  Mass 
of  the  people's  favourite,  Giuhano,  and  the  huge 
black  catafalque  surrounded  with  tall  candles  in 
the  centre  of  the  nave,  the  solemn  music,  and  the 
weeping  crowd,  attest  a  whole  city's  grief  (1478). 
Then  come  other  scenes ;  the  Medici  are  in  exile, 
and  every  inch  of  standing  space  in  the  church  is 
occupied  by  a  deeply-moved  crowd  listening  to  the 
great  preacher  Savonarola,  who  delivered  some  of 
his  most  impressive  sermons  from  the  carved  black 
marble  pulpit  which  stands  in  the  north  aisle 
(1496).  Four  years  after  the  return  of  the  Medici 
comes  the  funeral  of  Giuliano  (Due  de  Nemours), 
the  first  of  the  family  to  be  buried  in  the  New 
Sacristy,  then  just  added  to  the  church  (1516). 
And  this  is  followed  three  years  later  by  the 
pompous  funeral  of  his  nephew,  Lorenzo  (Duke 
of  Urbino).  Then  after  Florence's  struggle  for 
liberty  is  over,  and  Alessandro  has  been  installed 
as  Duke,  we  have  another  imposing  scene  in  San 
Lorenzo.  It  is  the  marriage  of  Alessandro  to 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Charles  V.,  the  last  step  in 
a  scheme  which  had  subjected  the  city  to  a  tyrant's 
rule,  and  the  crowd  which  looks  on  is  a  sullen  and 
dispirited  one  (1536).  Six  months  later  we  have 
again  a  burial  in  San  Lorenzo ;  but  it  is  a  very 
different  one  from  any  which  have  preceded.  In 
the  dead  of  night,  with  as  few  lights  as  possible,  in 
silence  and  secrecy,  the  murder  being  still  unknown 
to  the  city,  is  hurriedly  borne  into  San  Lorenzo 
by  a  few  hired  servants  the  body  of  the  detested 


PLATE   C. 


liroji 


iNii.itiuii   (11     iiii;  I  III  lii  II   III    >.v\   i,()|{i;n/.i 


XXXII.]      "THAT  CHAMBER  OF  THE  DEAD"        513 

Alessandro.  The  lid  of  the  sarcophagus  of  Lorenzo 
(Duke  of  Urbino)  in  the  New  Sacristy  is  forced 
open,  the  body  unceremoniously  placed  therein, 
the  sarcophagus  again  closed,  and  the  small  band 
of  servants  depart  as  secretly  as  they  have  come 
(1537).  This  is  followed  two  years  afterwards 
by  the  marriage  of  Duke  Cosimo  to  Eleonora  di 
Toledo,  in  the  presence  of  her  father,  the  Viceroy 
of  Naples,  and  a  numerous  retinue  of  Spanish 
nobles.  Twenty-three  years  later  San  Lorenzo 
witnessed  those  two  sad  funerals  when  Cosimo 
buried  within  one  month  his  wife  Eleonora  and 
his  two  sons,  Giovanni  and  Garzia  (1562).  And 
then,  after  the  Medici  had  become  Grand  Dukes, 
San  Lorenzo  saw  a  long  succession  of  splendid 
marriages  and  pathetic  funerals,  beginning  with 
the  marriage  of  Cosimo's  son  Francis  to  the  Arch- 
duchess Joanna,  the  sister  of  an  Emperor,  and 
ending  with  the  funeral  of  Anna  Maria  Ludovica, 
when  San  Lorenzo  witnessed  for  the  last  time  the 
burial  of  one  of  the  house  of  Medici. 

The  plain,  severe  style  of  the  church,  with  its 
columns  of  grey  pietra  serena  ("  the  quiet  stone  "), 
has  an  indescribably  peaceful  effect.  In  the  Old 
Sacristy  (at  the  end  of  the  south  transept)  lie 
Giovanni  di  Bicci,  his  wife  Piccarda,  and  his  two 
grandsons,  Piero  il  Gottoso  and  Giovanni.  In 
front  of  the  high  altar  of  the  church  lies  Cosimo 
Pater  I'atriae.  At  the  end  of  the  nortli  transept 
we  have  the  New  Sacristy, 

"...  That  Chamber  of  the  Dead, 
Where  the  gigantic  shapes  of  Night  and  Day, 
Turned  into  stone,  rest  everlastingly  !  "  ^ 

'  Rogers'  Italy. 
VOL.   11.  2  K 


514  SAN  LORENZO  tcHAP. 

Here,  where  so  many  of  the  house  of  Medici 
have  at  different  times  been  interred,'  there  still 
rest  the  remains  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  his 
brother  Giuliano,  Lorenzo's  son  Giuliano  (Due  de 
Nemours),  Lorenzo's  grandson  Lorenzo  (Duke  of 
Urbino),  and  Alessandro.  Then  comes  a  gap, 
Pietro  (buried  at  Monte  Cassino),  Leo  X.  and 
Clement  VII.  (buried  in  Rome)  and  Catherine 
(buried  in  France)  being  absent.  I^astly,  in  the 
mausoleum  behind  the  choir  ^  lie  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere  and  his  wife  Maria,  with  the  thirty-two 
remaining  members  of  the  family. 

In  the  case  of  the  Old  and  New  Sacristies  the 
sarcophagi  contain  the  remains  of  those  to  whom 
they  refer ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  mausoleum  all 
the  tombs  are  in  the  crypt,^  the  sarcophagi  in 
the  upper  portion  of  the  mausoleum  being  only 
intended  as  monuments.  As  the  church  of  San 
Lorenzo  stands  on  a  height,  and  as  the  floor  of 
the  mausoleum  is  on  a  level  with  that  of  the 
church,  it  results  that  the  crypt  of  the  mausoleum 
is  above  gi'ound,  being  on  the  ground  level  of 
the  Piazza  Madonna,  from  which  there  is  now  an 
entrance  to  the  crypt.  As  originally  built  there 
was  no  entrance  from  the  Piazza  Madonna,  and 
the  crypt  could  only  be  reached  by  the  stair- 
case leading  down  into  it  from  the  floor  of  the 
mausoleum.     It   was   therefore   a   place   where   it 

1  Chap.  xxix.  p.  4(59. 

'^  Plate  CI.  By  a  new  arrangement,  which  has  greatly  improved 
the  approach  to  these  huildings,  the  entrance  to  the  mausoleum  and  to 
the  New  Sacristy  is  now  through  the  cloisters  of  San  Lorenzo,  instead 
of  from  the  Piazza  Madonna  into  the  crypt  as  formerly. 

^  On  the  arch  of  the  crypt  furthest  from  the  altar  are  the  JNIedici 
arms,  with  the  name  of  Ferdinand  I.,  and  the  date  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  mausoleum,  1604. 


xxxir]  PLUNDER   OF  THE   COFFINS  ol5 

was  easy  to  keep  the  coffins  secure  from  all 
danger  of  depreciation  by  thieves  who  might  seek 
to  plunder  them  of  the  Jewels  which  they  con- 
tained. And  in  this  crypt  ^  the  coffins  (standing 
in  the  places  marked  by  the  respective  tomb- 
stones) remained  for  about  one  hundred  years. 

But  in  1791  the  Austrian  Grand  Duke 
Ferdinand  III.  decided  to  remove  them  from  this 
situation.  A  mortuary  chapel  for  the  Austrian 
Grand  Dukes  had  been  constructed  in  part  of 
the  vault  of  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo ;  and 
to  reach  it  more  conveniently  this  Grand  Duke 
made  an  entrance  from  the  Piazza  Madonna  into 
the  crypt  of  the  Medici  mausoleum,  so  as  to 
reach,  by  passing  through  the  latter,  the  mortuary 
chapel  which  lies  beyond  it."  This  throwing  open 
of  the  crypt  of  the  mausoleum  made  it  necessary 
to  remove  the  INIedici  coffins  elsewhere.  Beneath 
this  upper  crypt  there  is  a  lower  (subterranean) 
one,  of  exactly  the  same  size  and  shape  ;  and  to 
this  the  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  III.  removed  the 
Medici  coffins. 

Either  dvu'ing  this  removal  of  the  coffins  to  the 
lower  crypt  in  1791,  or  during  the  sixty  years  atler 
it  (owing  to  want  of  due  guard  over  them  after 
they  were  placed  in  the  lower  crypt),  thieves  obtained 
access  to  the  coffins,^  plundering  a  number  of  them 
of  their  jewels,  and  creating  considerable  disorder. 

In  185G,  to  remedy  this  state  of  things,  it  was 

'  See  Appendix  XVII.,  sliowing;  plan  of  tlie  crypt  and  position  of 
tlie  respective  tombstones. 

'^  A  small  door  at  tiie  end  of  the  crypt  opens  into  a  passaf^e  wliicli 
leads  into  this  mortuary  clia])el  of  the  Austrian  (irand  Dukes. 

^  It  is  asserted  that  this  happened  (hirinf;:  the  I*'rench  occupation  of 
Tuscany  (iy01-l}}l4)  ;  and  this  is  most  prolnihly  the  time  when  this 
plundering  of  the  Medici  coffins  occurred. 


516  SAN  LOREiNZO  [chap. 

decided  to  institute  an  official  examination  of  the 
whole  of  the  coffins,  to  open  and  examine  each 
carefully,  and  to  rearrange  them  in  due  order. 
Before  this  took  place,  the  Pope,  Pius  IX.,  visited 
the  mausoleum,  and  after  holding  a  service  in  the 
crypt  gave  his  authority  for  this  examination  of 
the  bodies,  ordering  it  to  be  conducted  with  due 
reverence  for  the  dead.  This  was  then  carried  out 
by  a  Commission  appointed  by  the  Government 
in  1857.  The  coffins,  to  the  number  of  forty-nine, 
were  in  turn  opened  and  examined,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  bodies,  their  dress,  and  ornaments  were 
minutely  detailed  in  an  official  report.  The  report 
showed  (as  will  be  seen  by  the  details  which  have 
been  given  in  the  footnotes  on  the  subject)  that 
the  bodies  of  all  those  who  were  cardinals  had 
been  left  untouched  by  the  thieves ;  but  that  all 
others^  had  been  robbed  of  most  of  their  jewels. 
The  examination  being  concluded,  the  coffins  were 
again  closed,  and  were  arranged  in  the  lower  crypt 
in  the  same  situations  as  they  had  occupied  in  the 
upper  crypt,  each  being  placed  immediately  under 
the  tombstone  in  the  upper  crypt  having  reference 
to  it.  And  this  done  the  entrance  to  the  lower 
crypt  (at  the  bottom  of  the  flight  of  steps  which 
leads  down  to  it)  was  then  walled  up." 

Thus  each   tombstone   in   the   upper  crypt   is 
over  the  coffin  to  which  it  refers.     In  the  centre, 

1  Except  those  of  Cosimo  III.  and  Gian  Gastone,  which  the  thieves 
had  not  discovei'ed. 

-  The  whole  work  of  this  Commission  was  conducted  with  great 
care  ;  each  of  the  workmen  employed  to  assist  the  Commission  worked 
with  two  sentries  over  him  to  ensure  that  none  of  the  jewels  still  left 
should  be  stolen  ;  and  the  bodies  remain  with  the  dresses  and  orna- 
ments which  have  been  detailed  in  the  various  footnotes  on  the  subject 
iu  chapters  xxiii.  to  xxxi. 


PLATE  Cir. 


^■1  linari] 


Tn.-MIl    (!!■    IKIJDINAM)    I. 


PLATE  cm. 


TUMli    UK    C0SI310    II. 


A  linari] 


xxxn.]  THEIR    MONUMENTS  517 

buried  in  his  black  armour,  lies  Giovanni  delle 
Bande  Nere  (with  on  his  tombstone  the  \vords 
Cognoviento  Invictus),  and  by  his  side  his  wife, 
Maria  Salviati.  Around  them,  in  the  various 
"  bays "  and  other  parts  of  the  crypt,  lie  their 
descendants  of  six  generations.^  Anna  Maria 
Ludovica,  the  last  of  them,  rests  near  one  of  the 
centre  pillars.  Each  of  the  first  four  Grand  Dukes 
is  interred  in  one  of  the  "  bays  "  with  his  wife  and 
two  of  his  children.  Similarly  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  mausoleum  each  monument  stands  over  the 
spot  in  the  crypt  which  holds  the  tomb  of  that 
Grand  Duke. 

The  three  places  of  sepulture,  the  Old  Sacristy 
at  the  end  of  the  south  transept,"  the  New  Sacristy 
at  the  end  of  the  north  transept,  and  the 
mausoleum  adjoining  the  choir,  serve  to  mark 
the  stages  through  which  the  Medici  passed.  We 
see  them  first  as  careful  and  assiduous  men  of 
business,  prudent,  generous  of  their  wealth,  and 
unflinching  defenders  of  the  poorer  classes  against 
tyranny  ;  then  as  far-sighted  and  capable  statesmen, 
heavily  burdened  with  public  affairs,  and  steadily 
raising  the  power  and  prosperity  of  their  country 
above  all  her  former  rivals,  and  at  the  same  time 
spending  both  efforts  and  wealth  on  the  advance- 
ment of  learning  and  the  encouragement  of  all 
forms  of  art ;  lastly,  we  see  them  as  crowned  heads, 
ruling  over  a  state  which  had  been  made  by  them 
the  most  important  in  Italy.     And  in  each  of  these 

^  In  several  cases  the  few  words  on  the  tomhstono,  wlien  studied 
in  connection  with  tlie  history,  are  very  pathetic. 

-  Tlie  church  of  San  Lorenzo  is  not  orientated  ;  the  clioir  and  high 
altar  are  at  the  western  end. 


518  SAN   LORENZO  ['^"'^p 

stages  we  see  tliem  (until  tlieir  decay)  incontest- 
ably  superior  to  all  their  contemporaries  similarly 
situated. 

Nor  should  the  evils  of  one  reign  be  allowed 
to  occupy  all  the  foreground  of  tlie  picture  to 
the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  Many  other 
Medici  had  governed  Tuscany  before  Cosimo  III. ; 
and  a  single  bad  reign  should  not  be  suffered  to 
do  more  than  balance  a  single  good  one.  The  evil 
effects  of  Cosimo  III.'s  reign  have  long  since  passed 
away ;  the  lasting  benefits  to  Tuscany  brought 
about  by  Cosimo  I.,  Ferdinand  I.,  Cosimo  II., 
and  Ferdinand  II.  (not  to  mention  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae  and  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent)  remain  for 
all  time. 

Lastly,  they  were  as  a  family  justly  to  be  called 
great.  Great  in  their  extraordinary  ability ;  great 
in  their  large-mindedness  ;  great  in  their  generosity 
of  character ;  great  in  their  unparalleled  love  for 
Learning  and  Art ;  great  in  their  abounding  energy, 
vitality,  and  many  -  sidedness ;  great,  above  all, 
in  their  peculiar  gift  for  pouring  oil  on  troubled 
waters  and  allaying  fierce  political  passions  which 
no  others  could  pacify.  Speaking  of  their  attain- 
ments and  the  causes  to  which  their  success  was 
due,  Yriarte  says  : — 

"  The  grasp,  the  varied  capacity,  and  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  the  Medici  may  be  gathered  from 
the  specimens  of  their  correspondence  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  Florence.  They  are  equally  at 
home  in  the  most  contrasted  topics ;  in  war,  in 
diplomacy,  in  domestic  administration,  in  foreign 
policy,  in  literature,  and  in  the  fine  arts.  .  .  .  Their 
success  was  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  grandeur 


xxxii]  A   FAMILY    TRULY    GREAT  519 

of  conception,  liberality,  and  nobility  of  mind  that 
seemed  natui'al  to  this  family." 

Looked  at  as  a  whole,  they  stand  out  as  worthy 
reflectors  of  the  glory  of  Tuscany. 

The  Medici,  whatever  else  they  may  have 
been,  were  at  all  events  thorougli  Llorentines, 
and  loved  Florence  with  an  ardour  whicli  none 
can  surpass.  When  they  became  Grand  Dukes 
they  did  not  (as  might  have  been  the  case)  rule 
from  a  distance,  receiving  the  surplus  revenue  of 
the  State,  spending  their  wealth  elsewhere,  and 
interesting  themselves  but  little  in  the  welfare 
of  Florence.  Instead  of  this,  they  so  thoroughly 
made  themselves  one  with  Florence  that  her 
history  and  theirs  are  bound  up  together.  They 
gloried  in  her  glory ;  they  increased  it  in  count- 
less ways ;  and  they  so  completely  identified 
themselves  with  all  that  does  honour  to  Florence 
that  it  is  herself  she  would  most  honour  in 
honouring  them. 


'& 


To  obliterate  their  memory  from  Florence  is 
impossible.  Well  chosen  was  their  motto  '-'Semper' 
which  the  earlier  members  of  the  family  adopted.^ 
Wherever  we  turn  in  tliat  city  reminiscences  of 
them  confront  us.  The  Medici  Palace,  the  home 
of  their  earlier  days,  still  stands,  solemn  and  grand, 
as  wlien  it  was  "the  hotel  of  the  princes  of  the 
whole  world "  and  memorable  for  much  else 
besides.  Castello  speaks  to  us  of  JNLaria  Salviati 
and  her  gallant  soldier  husband.  The  Piazza 
Sta.  Trinitii  with  its  grave  column  of  Justice,  the 

'  Vol.  i.  J),  lijn. 


520  SAN   LORENZO  [chap. 

Ponte  Vecchio  with  its  strange  "Passaggio,"  and  the 
broad  sweep  of  the  Ponte  Sta.  Trinita,  bring  to  our 
minds  the  iron-handed  but  capable  ruler  Cosimo  I. 
The  Boboli  gardens  are  eloquent  of  Eleonora  di 
Toledo  and  her  band  of  healthy  children.  The 
spacious  Pitti  Palace,  the  home  of  the  family's  later 
days,  is  still  the  royal  residence  of  Tuscany  as  when 
the  beautiful  Isabella  danced  and  sang  and  led 
all  social  functions  there.  The  great  mausoleum 
reminds  us  of  Ferdinand  I.  and  his  prophetic  speech. 
Poggio  Imperiale,  and  the  pictures  in  the  long 
gallery  over  the  Arno,  recall  Maria  Maddalena,  with 
her  accomplished  sisters-in-law  Eleonora,  Caterina, 
and  Claudia,  and  her  lively  daughters,  Maria 
Cristina,  Margherita,  and  Anna.  In  the  Uffizi  and 
Pitti  Galleries  we  are  surrounded  by  mementoes 
of  the  three  talented  brothers,  Ferdinand  II., 
Giovanni  Carlo,  and  Leopold.  And  everywhere 
in  crowded  museums  and  galleries  we  see  pictures, 
statues,  bronzes,  gems,  vases,  inlaid  tables,  costly 
cabinets,  and  other  objects  of  art  innumerable, 
every  one  of  which  has  been  examined  with 
interest  and  eventually  purchased  by  some  member 
of  this  family. 

As  we  stand  in  the  magnificent  mausoleum 
where  their  line  comes  to  an  end,  and,  surrounded 
by  their  great  porphyry  monuments,^  finished 
with  the  workmanship  given  to  a  costly  gem, 
think  of  this  family's  long  history,  their  gifts  to 
their  country^  and  to  Europe,  and  their  last  gift 
to  Florence  of  so  much  that  is  precious  to  all  the 

1  Plates  CII.  and  CIII. 

2  Seen  best  wlien  the  Florence  of  to-day  is  compared  with  Ferrara, 
Mantua,  Parma,  and  other  capitals  of  former  rival  states. 


XXXII.] 


THEIR    MEMORY  CANNOT  FADE 


521 


world,  we  realise  something  of  what  the  Medici 
were  and  did,  and  feel  that  they  were  indeed  no 
ordinary  people,  and  that  their  works  were  of  the 
kind  that  "  survives  the  funeral  fires  "  and  endures 
when  tombs  and  monuments  have  crumbled  into 
dust. 


EPILOGUE 

It  has  been  said  by  one  who  felt  the  grandeur  of 
their  liistory,  "  Let  the  Medici  rest  in  peace  in 
their  tombs  of  marble  and  porphyry  ;  for  they  have 
done  more  for  the  glory  of  the  world  than  any 
king,  prince,  or  emperor."^  But  they  did  more 
than  that ;  and  we  must  not  in  their  case  say : 
"  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi."  While  other  rulers 
of  their  time  have  left  nothing  but  a  memory  of 
their  own  personal  glory,  that  glory  which  we 
know  passes  so  utterly  away,  the  Medici  have  left 
something  more  lasting  than  that. 

They  are  all  past  and  gone  now,  all  these 
Medici  whose  lives  we  have  been  following,  and 
those  also  whose  story  intermingles  with  theirs : 
Pico  della  Mirandola,  the  bright  and  beautiful 
sunbeam ;  Savonarola,  the  martyred  reformer ; 
Bourbon,  the  sad  and  ruined  soldier;  the  three 
great  antagonists,  Charles,  Francis,  and  Henry ; 
all  that  "  glorious  company  "  of  the  great  in  Art, 
and  many  other  distinguished  names  ;  all  their 
hopes,  ambitions,  wrong-doings,  and  sorrows  are 
in  the  grave  now.  Some,  setting  before  them  a 
purely  selfish  aim  and  striving  after  nothing  really 
great,  have  left  nothing  behind  them  except  it  be 
a   name   on   which    men   cast  contempt.      Others 

^  Alexandre  Dumas. 
522 


EPILOGUE  523 

(whether  as  artists,  scholars,  or  rulers),  aspiring 
after  some  aim  higher  than  this,  have  left  hehind 
them  things  which  still  shed  a  blessing  of  one  kind 
or  another  on  mankind,  and  so  their  memory  is 
honoured.  Of  all  those  whose  names  have  passed 
before  us  the.  great  in  Art,  at  any  rate,  have  left 
behind  them  works  which  are  still  a  source  of  good 
to  mankind,  giving  it  its  highest  form  of  enjoy- 
ment, and  ever  drawing  it  upwards  from  all  that 
is  trivial  and  ignoble.  That  we  still  possess  these 
is  due  in  large  measure  to  the  Medici.  And 
greater  e\'en  than  this  is  their  other  work,  the 
resuscitation  of  Learning,  which  has  spread  know- 
ledge far  and  wide,  with  benefits  to  mankind  that 
are  immeasurable.  This  is  the  glory  that  the 
Medici  have ;  and  this  glory  will  not  pass  away. 


Finis. 


APPENDICES 


NE 


lOT 


Sforza 

1509. 


Nere  =  Maria  Salviati,  granddaughter 
I       of   Lorenzo    (il    Magnifico) 
b.  1499;  d.  1543. 

Cosimo  I.  =Eleonora  di  Toledo 


md  I. 


qon 


b.  1510  ; 
d.  1574. 


b.  1522  ; 
d.  1502. 


=  Christine 
of  Lorraine 

b.  lotii ; 
d.  1636. 


Pietro 

b.  1554; 
d.  1604. 


ElooTiora,  daughter 
of  Don  Garzia  of 
Toledo 

b.  1556;  d.  1576. 


orenzo 

1600; 
!.  1648. 


Maddalena 
6.  16t0; 
d.  1633. 


Claudia 

b.  1604  ;  (I.  164S. 

1.  Federigodella 

Rovere,  of 
Urbiuo. 

2.  Archduke 

Leopohl  of 
Austria. 


Cosimo 

b.  1572; 
d.  1576. 


Vittoria  della 
Rovere 

6. 1621 ;  d.  1693. 


Ferdinand  Karl 
of  Austria. 


icesco 

iei4 ; 


Anna 

b.  1016; 

d.  1060. 

=  Ferdinand 

Kail  of 

Austria. 


Leopold 

6.  1017; 
d.  1675. 


i  A  P  P  E  N  D  I  X     I 

GENEALOGICAL  TnEE  OF  THE  MEDICI, 


e 


GIOVANNI  (DI  BICCD=PICCAEDA  BUEBI. 


Coai[no'(l'ater  Patriae) =Conte8siiia  de'  Bardi. 


[rro  (iJ  GottoGo)=Liicrczia  Tomabuoni 


Hiaticn^Liuglielmo  de'  I'm 


NaiiDina^Beraardo  lluccllui 


LoronEO  (ilAJnpni6co)=(Jlarice  Orsin 


Marin  =  GlOVANM 


Ali338aDdrc 


e  u  It  0      =Ginovra  Cavalcaoti. 
I'ier  Francesco  =  Uiudoinia  Ac 


Pier  Francesco  Avorardo. 


Ginevni.  Lsudomin 


6. 1H&;  d.  im:.  (IJisliop  uf  liereiers), 

1.  Ai-cli(Iii<:l.css.lrjaiiija=FrniioisI.=S.  Bin 


^u.Inmm  -  i'icro  SlroXici.  >Ia<l.li.lt-na  =  Ho'ici 


Isabella 
=Paolo  Orsiui. 


GiovDiint  Lu 


UiuvnuDi  dellu  BnndeNcro=Mnria  Solvioti,  gramldnuglitcr 
h  l»a ;  d.  IBM.     '        I      of  Loroiizo    (U    Mo^ititico) 


iCotinio  I. -Elconoradi  Toledo 

:  I 


Catboritic  do'  Medi< 


:I  =  noi.ryII. 
I     of  IVaiicQ 


KoborU>=Mnd<l»lc) 


Iluniola  Isabella 

(died  as  (diod  as 

a  child}.  a  cbild). 


Louis  XIII.  Hv, 


of  EmptTor 


=  Ferdiii«iid 
DiikP  nf' 


Carlo         iJtnnto         Mudduli-i 


Claudia 

1.  l-'odcrEiio  dulla 

Rover.-,  of 

Urbiiiu. 

2.  Arcbduko 


■RHicis  II. 


Claude  =    Henry, 


Henry  III. 


FcrdiuandU. 

=Vitto'ria  doUa 
Rovere. 

I 


Cosinio  lII.=Mareuerite  Ixtuigi 


^inio  iII.=Mareue 
"I'.l"-      I    ofOrli 

T 


Giovnnoi  MarKboriLi  .Mattitks 

Carlo  ft.  ,?i2;J.  lesi.  e.iei9: 

6.1011;  =Edoardo 

Duke  of  Parma. 

Frnncesco  Moria  =  Kleo'nora  GonzogSj  daugbter  of 
b  i«oo ;  d.  171U.  VinceiiM,  Duko  of  GuaslcUa. 


n 


APPEXDIX    X 

POPES    FROM    MARTIN    V.    (14-17)    TO    CLEMENT    IX. 

(1G70) 


Martin  V.    . 

Eugenius  IV^. 

Nicholas  V.  (Parentucelli) 

CalixtuslII. 

Pius  II.  (Piccoloiniiii) 

Paul  II.       . 

SixtusIV.    . 

Innocent  VIII.  (Cibo) 

Alexander  VI.  (Borgia) 

Pius  III.  (Piccoloniini) 

Julius  II.  (Delia  Roverc) 

Leo  X.  (Medici)      . 

Adrian  VI.  (Adrian  Dedel 

Clement  VII.  (Medici) 

Paul  in.  (Farnesc) 

Julius  III.  . 

Marcellus  II. 

Paul  IV.  (Caraffa)  . 

Pius  IV. (Medici  of  Milan) 

Pius  V.  (Ghislieri)  . 

(iregory  XIII. 

Sixtus  V.  (Peretti)  . 

Urban  VII. 

Gregory  XIV. 

Iiuiocent  IX. 

(Uement  VIII. 

Leo  XI.  (Medici  of  Naples) 

Paul  V.  (Horghese) 

Gregory  X\'.  (I.iidovisi) 

Urban  VIII.  (IJ.irberini) 

Innocent  X.  (Panitili) 

Alexander  VII.  (Cbigi) 

Clement  IX.  (Rospigliosi) 


of  Utrecht) 


1417-14.'51 
14.31-1447 
1 447-1 4.V) 
14.5.5-14.58 
I4.5»-14G4 
I4(;4-1471 
1471-1484 
1484-1492 
1402-1503 

1.50.3 
1.50;3-1513 
1.513-1.521 
1.521-1523 
1.523-1534 
1.534-1.550 
1550-1555 

1 555 
15.55-1559 
1.5.59-1565 
15G.5-1572 
1572-1.585 
1585-1.590 

1590 
1.590-1,591 
1.591-1.592 
1592-1005 

1(505 
in05-l(521 
l(;21-in23 
n;2.3-1644 
1(;44-1G55 
1().5.5-I(K;7 
10G7-1670 


628 


APPENDIX    XI 


EMPERORS    FROM    1400    TO    1737 


Rupert 

. 

1400-1410 

Sigismund 

•              .              .              . 

1410-1438 

Albert  II.  . 

, 

1438-1440 

Frederick  III. 

•              •             •             . 

1440-1493 

Maximilian  I. 

, 

1493-1519 

Charles  V. 

« 

15] 9-1555 

Ferdinand  I. 

1555-1564 

Maximilian  II. 

• 

1564-1576 

Rudolph  II. 

. 

1576-1612 

Mattliias     . 

. 

1612-1619 

Ferdinand  II. 

. 

1619-1637 

Ferdinand  III. 

. 

1637-1658 

Leopold  I.  . 

1658-1705 

Joseph  I.    . 

. 

1705-1710 

Charles  VI. 

. 

1710-1737 

529 


APPENDIX    XII 

COSTMO    II.'S    BROTHERS    AND    SISTERS 


NAME. 

BORN. 

DIED. 

Eleouora 

1591 

1617 

Enjfaged  to  Philip  III.  of  Spain. 
Died  unmarried  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six. 

Caterilia 

1593 

1029 

Married  in  1617  the  Duke  of 
Mantua.  After  l)ecoming  a 
widow  in  1('>1()  was  made 
Governor  of  Siena. 

Francesco 

1594 

1614 

Took  up  tlie  career  of  arms, 
but  died  at  the  age  of 
twenty. 

Carlo     . 

1596 

1666 

Became  a  cardinal,  and  resided 
at  Rome,  becoming  Deacon 
of  the  Sacred  College.  Died 
at  seventy-one. 

f  Lorenzo 

in 

e 

1600 

1648 

Failed  in  various  projects,  and 
died  at  forty-oiglit. 

I  Maddalena    . 

1600 

1633 

Became  a  nun  in  the  convent 
of  the  Crocetta. 

Claudia 

1604 

1648 

Married  in  1620  the  only  son  of 
the  Duke  of  Urbino,  but  was 
soon  left  a  widow.  Married 
a  second  time  in  1625  the 
Archduke  Leopold  of  the 
Tyrol.  Ruled  the  Tyrol  as 
Regent  on  behalf  of  her  son 
Irom  1632  to  KMf!. 

5S0 


VOL.  II. 


2  L 


APPENDIX    XIII 

FERDINAND    II. 's    BROTHERS    AND    SISTERS 


NAME. 

BORN. 

DIED. 

Maria  Cristina 
(twin    sister    of 
Ferdinand) 

1610 

1632 

Died  unmarried  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two. 

Giovanni  Carlo     . 

161] 

1663 

Made  a  cardinal  in  1644.  Died 
at  the  age  of  fifty-two. 

Margherita  . 

1612 

1662 

Married  in  1628  the  Duke  of 
Parma. 

Mattias         .        . 

1613 

1667 

Served  with  distinction  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War.  After- 
wards commanded  the  Tuscan 
army,  and  was  Governor  of 
Siena.  Died  at  fifty-four, 
unmarried. 

Francesco     . 

1614 

1634 

Took  up  the  career  of  arms, 
but  died  of  the  plag-ue  in  the 
camp  of  the  Imperial  army 
before  Ratisbon  at  the  age 
of  twenty. 

Anna    . 

1616 

1660 

Married  in  1643  Ferdinand 
Karl,  Archduke  of  the  Tyrol. 

Leopold 

1C17 

1675 

Made  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of 
fifty,  and  died  at  fifty-eight. 

531 


APPENDIX    XIV 

GROUND   PLAN   OF   THE   PITTI   PALACE,   SHOWING  THE   PORTIONS   BUILT 

RESPECTIVELY   BY   COSIMO   I.,   COSIMO   II.,   AND   FERDINAND    II. 

{N.B. — All  three  plaus  are  drawn  to  tlie  same  scale.) 

II.    AS    EXTENDED    BY    COSIMO    II. 


I.    AS    BUILT    BY   COSIMO    I. 


« 


Fa9ade. 
Three  .stories  high. 


Karade. 

Three  stories  high.     Each  story  contains  about 
fifty  principal  rooms. 


III.    THE    PAI>ACE    AS    EXTENDED    BY    FERDINAND    II. 

(The  present  palace). 

B     O     B     O     I.     I  G     A     R     n     E     N     8  . 


Corridor 
leading  to 


the  ' '  Pas- 
saggio." 


Inm^r 
Conrt. 


Inner 
(Jourt. 


r 


Terrace  on  level  of 
the  first  floor. 


Central 
Court. 


Fa9ade. 


(n)  Whereas  the  centre  block  is  three  stories  high,  the  portion  added  by  Ferdinand  II. 

is  two  stories  high  ;  except  the  guard  rooms  and  the  building.s  round  the  two 

inner  courts,   which  are  one  story  h\c.h. 
(h)  The  ground  floor  contains  the  Treas'iiro  Room,  the  Royal  Chapel,  and  numerous  offices 
(c)  The  first  floor  contains  the  Pitti  Gallery,  the  state  apartments,  and  the  apartments 

occupied  by  the  late  King  of  Italy. 
{d)  The  njiiier  floor  contains— in  the  right  wing  the  ai>artments  used  by  the  present 

King  of  Italy  when  in  Florence  ;  in  the  left  wing  the  apartments  kept  for  guests 

of  the  court ;  and  in  the  centre  the  apartments  formerly  occupied  by  the  Grand 

Duke  of  Tu.scany. 
(e)  Above  the  upper  floor  is  an  extensive  range  of  attics,  capable  of  accommodating  a 

very  largo  number  of  domestic  servants. 
(/)  The  dotted  lines  denote  the  interior  corridors,  with  rooms  on  both  sides. 
(^)  'J'he  central  court  is  170  feet  by  130  feet. 


Irf-"^^^^--!^  "^^  *-,  ««'*" -^f--'^^^^^  ^w    ~^r"^  •^'^'^Si^^^-\e/~N,.. 'v^- 


FACSIMILE    OF    THE    GENEALOGICAL    TREE    DRAWN    UP    FOK    THE    HLECTRICSS    ANNA    MARIA    LUDOVICA    WHEN    DYING,   IN    ORDER    THAT    SHE    MIGHT    TRACE    HER    NEAREST    Ot     KIN 


APPENDIX     XVI 

PERUZZl    DE'    MEDICI 

{Taken  from  the  Royal.  Compilation  of  Heraldnj  of  Itnhj,   Vol.   VIII.) 

PiETRO  Paolo,  whom  the  Electress  Anna  Maria  Ludovica 
discovered  (by  the  genealogical  tree  which  slie  had  caused  to 
be  drawn  up)  to  be  her  nearest  of  kin,  left  a  son,  Averardo. 
The  latter  had  two  children  :  a  son,  Pietro  Paolo,  and  a 
daughter,  Anna  Luigia.  The  son  never  niai-ried ;  tlie 
daughter,  Anna  Luigia,  married  the  Cavaliere  Bindo  Peruzzi, 
the  great-grandfather  of  the  present  Marchese  Peruzzi  de' 
Medici,  the  family  taking  the  name  of  Medici  attached  to 
that  of  Peruzzi  in  consequence  of  this  marriage,  in  accord- 
ance with  one  of  the  codicils  of  the  will  of  the  Electress 
Anna  Maria  Ludovica,  who  desired  that  this  should  Ije 
done  in  such  a  case  in  order  that  the  name  of  her  family 
might  still  be  preserved. 


534 


(a)  The  full  inscription  on  earli  tombstone  is  not  given,  but 

only  sufficient  to  identify  each. 
(l>)  Tlie  four  squares  are  the  massive  pillars  of  the  arches 

supporting  the  floor  of  the  Mausoleum  above. 
((■)  lliis  door  leads  througl 


(d)  Steps  which  lead  down 
to  the  lower  crypt 
(now  availed  up). 


APPENDIX    XVII 


PLAN    OF    CRYPT    OF    MAUSOLEUM,    SHOWING 
POSITION    OF   TnE  VARIOUS   TOMBSTONES. 


daiipliter  ..f 

I'erdinanil  I., 

died  1620. 

Former  entrance 
ffrom  the  Piazza  Madoi 
closed  in  1908. 


INDEX 


GENERAL 


Academy  for  Greek,  first,  i.,  273 

Acciajuoli,  Ag-nolo,  i.,  155 

Acciajuoli,  Niccolo,  ii.,  23G-237 

Accoramboiii,  Vittoria,  ii.,  314-31 G 

Achievements  of  the  Medici  during 
their  first  hundred  years, 
i.,  328-330 

Adoration  of  the  Magi,  by  Botticelli 
{see  Botticelli) 

Adoration  of  the  Magi,  by  Filippino 
Lippi,  ii.,  171 

Adrian  VI.,  Pope,  election,  i.,  427  ; 
contrast  to  predecessor,  428 ; 
character,  429  ;  policy,  430  ; 
eiforts  to  reform  the  Church, 
432-434 ;  hatred  agaiust  him, 
434  ;  death,  435 

Aggiunti,  Niccolo,  ii.,  437. 

iEgidius  of  Viterbo,  i.,  432 

Agincourt,  battle  of,  i.,  3G 

Agnadello,  battle  of,  i.,  3G9 

Agra,  Mogul  Emperor's  palaces  at. 
ii.,  428-433 

Agricultural  colonies  {see 
Maremma) 

Alava,  Spanish  envoy,  ii.,  113 

Alberti,  Leon  Batlista,  i.,  1G7 

Albizzi,  the,  i.,  31 

Albizzi,  Rinaldo  degli,  opposes 
Cosimo  de'  Medici,  i.,  G5  ;  mis- 
manages the  war  witli  Lucca, 
72 ;  attempts  to  seize  the  govern- 
ment, 73  ;  banishment,  74 

Albret,  Jeanne  d',  (^ueen  of 
Navarre,  niece  of  Francis  L 
of  France,  character,  ii.,  56; 
her  manil'esto  relating  tiie 
attempt  on  her  liusband's  life, 
90  ;  attends  Council  of  I'oissy, 
98  ;  uncertainty  wlicther  to 
allow  her  son's  marriage,  122  ; 
comes  to  Paris,  123  ;  death,  123 

VOL.  II.  537 


Aldobrandini,  Salvestro,  his  life 
saved  by  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
ii.,  20 

Aldus  Manutius  (Aide  Manuzio), 
invents  the  Italic  type,  i.,  272  ; 
assists  to  establish  a  printing 
press  for  Greek  type  at  Rome, 
413 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  election, 
i.,  308;  character,  345;  en- 
deavours to  silence  Savonarola, 
34G  ;  causes  him  to  be  put  to 
death,  349;  denounces  Catherine 
Sforza,  ii.,  203;  imprisons  her, 
207  ;  his  death,  i.,  3G5 

Alexander  VII.,  Pope,  election, 
ii.,  434  ;  causes  Giovanni  Carlo 
de'  Medici  to  be  recalled  to 
Florence,  434  ;  nearly  comes  to 
hostilities  with  France,  453  ; 
death,  455 

Alfonso  II.,  King  of  Naples, 
i.,  339 

Allcgre,  Ives  d',  commands  French 
army  sent  against  Forli, 
ii.  204  ;  insists  on  the  libera- 
tion of  Catherine  Sfonsa,  207- 
208 

Alva,  Duke  of,  ii.,  110-111 

Amlioise,  Conspiracy  of,  ii.,  79-82  ; 
executions  at,  82-87 

America,  discovery  of,  i.,  307 

Angelico,  Fra,  lu'gins  painting  at 
Fhjrence,  i.,  114;  frescoi's  in 
San  Marco,  115;  character  of 
his  art,  110  ;  his  portraits,  117  ; 
called  to  Rome,  117;  frexiH's 
in  the  diapel  of  Nicholas  \'., 
118  ;  dealii,  118 

Anghiari,  battle  of.  i.,  92 

Angiiiari,  Buldaccio  d',  murder 
of,  i.,  93 

2  2l 


538 


INDEX 


Angora,  battle  of,  i.,  34 

Animosity  against  the  Medici,  its 
real  origin,  ii.,  3(56-372 

Anne  of  Beaujeu,  Regent  of 
France,  i.,  202 

Antonino,  St,  Prior  of  San  Marco, 
i.  80 

Arazzi,  Galleria  degli,  ii.,  269-271 

Aretino,  Pietro,  friendship  for 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere, 
ii.,  220  ;  his  letter  to  Maria 
Salviati  recounting  her  husband's 
death,  230 

Argyropoulos,    Johannes,  i.,    274 

Armada,  the  Spanish,  destruction 
of,  ii.,  156 

Army,  of  Charles  VIII, ,  composi- 
tion of,  i.,  336-337 

Army,  the  Tuscan,  under  Cosimo 
I.,ii.,267 

Arnolfo  di  Cambio,  begins  con- 
struction of  the  cathedi'al,  i., 
22  ;  his  monument,  98 

Arragon,  Ferdinand  of  (see 
Ferdinand) 

Arragon,  Is-abella  of,  appeals 
against  the  usurpation  of  Ludo- 
vico  Sforza,  i.,  312  ;  imprisoned 
by  him,  315 

Arragon,  Katharine  of,  married  to 
Henry  VIII.,  i.,  369;  question 
of  her  divorce,  482 ;  her  marriage 
annulled,  483 

Arragon,  Leonora  of,  her  visit  to 
Florence,  i.,  221 

Art.  Technical  excellence  not  the 
chief  thing,  i.,  146  ;  wide  know- 
ledge possessed  by  the  great 
masters,  146  ;  eiforts  of  the 
earliest  masters,  147  ;  the  true 
pleasure  in  Art,  147  ;  Learning 
and  Art  go  hand  in  hand,  147  ; 
example  given  by  Eaphael's 
masterpiece,  375-376  ;  false 
principle  of  employing  the 
subject  to  display  the  artist's 
powers,  instead  of  vice  versa, 
873  ;  the  downfall  of  Art,  its 
result,  373 

Art,  Progress  of.  State  of  art  at 
beginning  of  fifteenth  century, 
i.,  29  ;  morning  of  the  Renais- 
sance 39-42  ;  further  develop- 
ments under  the  four  leaders, 
49-57  ;   achievements   of  art  in 


Cosimo's  time ,  1 09-127 ;  achieve- 
ments in  Piero's  time,  103-182  ; 
achievements  in  Lorenzo's  time, 
282-289;  culmination  of  the 
Renaissance  in  Art,  370-377 

Art-collecting,  passion  for  perma- 
nent in  the  Medici  family,  i.,  144 

Astrology,  cult  of,  ii.,  69 

Astronomy,  eifects  of  the  first  dis- 
coveries in,  ii.,  379-381 

Attendolo,  Muzio,  given  the  name 
of  Sforza,  ii.,  180 

Augsburg,  Diet  of  (.see  Diet) 

Austin  de  Bordeaux,  sent  to  the 
Great  Mogul,  ii.,  432  ;  makes 
the  Peacock  Throne,  429  ;  his 
death,  432 

Auto-da-fe  processions  (see  Santa 
Croce) 

Baglioni,  Malatesta,  his  treachery, 

i.,  474-475 
Bagnolo,  Peace  of,  i.,  261 
Bajazet,  Sultan,  i.,  34 
Baldovhietti,  i.,  283 
Bale,  Council  of  (see  Council) 
Ball  and  cross  on  dome  of  cathedral 

blown  down,  ii.,  361 
Bande  Nere  (or  Black  Bands),  the, 

their  renown,  ii.,  218;  grief  at 

their  commander's  death,  224  ; 

subsequent  testimony  given  by 

their  conduct,  224 
Bandini,  Bernardo,  murders  Giuli- 

ano  de'  Medici,  i.,  235  ;  capture 

and  execution,  239 
Banishments  of  the  Medici,  first, 

i.,  67  ;  second,  319;  third,  459 
Banking, modern  system  of,  origin- 
ated hy  the  Florentine  bankers, 

i.  24 
Banking  finally  given  up  by  the 

Medici,  ii.,  883 
Baptistery,    the,    its    gi-eat    age, 

i.,  27;   competition  to  execute 

the  bronze  doors,  39-40 
Barbary   pirates,   the,   expedition 

against   them  of  the    Km{)eror 

C^harles  V.,  i.,  502  ;  expedition 

against  them  of  Ferdinand  I., 

ii.,  348 
Barcelona,     secret    compact     of, 

between     Clement      VTL     and 

Charles  V^,  i.,  467 
Bardi,  the,  i.,  64 


INDEX 


539 


Barga,  battle  of^  i.,  82 

Barg'ello,  the,  its  age,  i.,  27 ; 
originally  the  castle  of  the 
Podestd,  ii. ,  239 ;  interest  attach- 
ing to  it,  239  ;  executions  there- 
in, 240 

Bartolommeo,  Fra,  i.,  371 

Bayard,  the  Chevalier,  death  of, 
i.,  443 

Beaulieu,  Peace  of,  ii.,  139 

Bedford,  Earl  of,  besieges  Orleans, 
i.,  49 

Belgrade,  taken  by  the  Turks, 
i.,  431 

Bellini,  Giovanni,  i.,  189 

Belvedere,  fort  of  the  {see  Fort 
San  Giorgio) 

Benedetto  da  Majano,  i.,  267 

Bergerac,  Peace  of,  ii.,  143 

Bertoldo,  pupil  of  Donatello,  i., 
283 

Bessarion,  Bishop  of  Nica^a,  i.,  8G 

Birth  of  Venus,  the  (see  Botti- 
celli) 

Blenheim,  battle  of,  ii.,  470 

Board  of  Health,  the,  ii.,  400 

Boboli  Gardens,  the,  ii.,  256 

Boleyn,  Anne,  i.,  483 

Bologna,  meeting  of  Francis  I.  and 
Leo  X.  at,  i.,  393  ;  first  confer- 
ence of,  between  Charles  V.  and 
Clement  VII.,  470-471  ;  second 
conference  of,  481 

Bona  of  Savoy,  governs  Milan  on 
behalf  of  her  son,  i.,  2r)8  ; 
banished  by  Ludovico  Sforza, 
258 

Bona,  headquarters  of  the  Barbary 
pirates,  capture  of,  by  the 
Tuscan  fleet,  ii.,  348 

Bonfire  of  "  the  Vanities,"  i.,  344 

Bonnivet,  commander  of  the 
French  army  invading  Lom- 
bardy,  i.,  431  ;  severe  defeat, 
443 

Books,  amount  spent  by  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent  on,  i.,  272 

Borgia,  (Ja*sar,  threatens  Florence, 
i.,  3()5;  attacks  Catherine  Sforza, 
ii.,  204-20G  ;  tries  to  murder 
her,  209;  deatli,  i.,  366 

Borgia,  Lucrezia,  i.,  365 

Borgo  San  Sepolcro,  bought  by 
I'lorence,  i.,  95 

Bosworth,  battle  of,  i.,  262 


Botanical  Garden.s  (see  Pisa) 
Botticelli,  apprenticed   to  Filippo 

Lippi,  i.,171  ;  ciiaracteristics  of 

his  art,  170-173;  liis  first  period, 

173-182  ;    second    period,    286- 

287;    third    period,   351-354; 

fourth   period,  355-359  ;  death, 

3.V.) 
Botticelli's  picture  of: — 

Adoration  of  the  Magi,  The, 
wlion  and  for  wliom  painted, 
i.,  175  ;  characters  depicted, 
176  ;  its  meaning,  177-178  ; 
refutation  of  the  error  of 
supposing  it  was  painted  for 
Giovanni  Lumi,  522-524 

Birth  of  Venus  and  Mars  and 
Venus,  connection  with  the 
tournament  of  1475,  i.,  224- 
226  ;  not  painted  for  Lorenzo 
di  Pier  Francesco,  but  for 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
525-532 

Culuinmi,  description,  i.,  356  ; 
political  reference,  357 ;  when 
and  why  painted,  358 

Fortitude,  its  signification, 
i.,  178-181  ;  when  and  for 
whom  painted,  181 

Judith,  its  character,  i.,  173  :  its 
wanderings,  ii.,  354 

Medallist,  The,  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  picture,  i.,  327  ; 
proof  that  it  is  a  portrait  of 
Pietro,  eldest  son  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  327-328  ; 
refutation  of  the  error  of 
supposing  it  represents  Gio- 
vanni, son  of  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae,  53(5-538 

Pallas  and  the  Centaur,  wlieu 
and  why  painted,  i.,  253;  its 
signilicatioii,  254 

Uetnrti  of  Spring,  7'/i^',coiMi('cti<in 
witli  the  tournanu-nt  of  1475, 
i.,  22(J ;  its  signification,  227- 
228  ;  not  painte<l  for  I^orcnzo 
di  Pier  Francesco,  but  for 
Lorenzo  the  MagnificcMt, 
525-532 
Boulogne,  intrigues  set  on  foot  to 

give  it   to   Spain   to   assist  tlie 

Arma(hi,  ii.,  154 
H(iurl)()n,    Antoiiu'    de,    Kintr    of 

Na\arre  (xee  Navarre) 


540 


INDEX 


Bourbon,  Cardinal  de,  ii.,  158 

Bourbon,  Charles,  Duke  of,  driven 
from  France,  i.,  432  ;  commands 
part  of  the  Imperial  army  in 
Italy,  443  ;  captures  Francis  I. 
at  the  battle  of  Pavia,  445  ;  his 
march  upon  Rome,  451  ;  death, 
452 

Braitwitz,  General,  ii.,  494 

Bramante,  assists  to  destroy  St 
Peter's,  i.,  377-378 

Brancacci  chapel,  the,  i.,  56 

Brantome,  his  description  of  the 
appearance  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  73 

Brandano,  Pacifica,  i.,  494 

Brass  cannon  ("Saint  Paul")  made 
by  Michelangelo,  ii.,  268 

Bridges  destroyed  by  flood  in  the 
Arno,  ii.,  272 

British  fleet,  the,  helps  to  seize 
Leghorn,  ii.,  492 

Bronze  doors  of  the  Baptistery, 
inauguration  of  the  work, 
i.,  31  ;  competition  to  execute 
them,  39-40  ;  a  school  of  art  for 
Florence,  41  ;  first  pair  set  up, 
64 ;  second  pair  set  up,  120- 
122 

Bronze  horse  made  in  Florence  for 
the  statue  of  Henry  IV.  in  Paris, 
its  history,  ii.,  363-364 

Bronzes,  collection  of,  now  in  the 
Bargello  museum,  ii.,  502 

Bronzino,  chief  painter  of  Cosimo  I., 
ii.,  259  ;  executes  portraits  of 
the  Medici  family,  260 ;  his 
portrait  of  Eleonora  di  Toledo, 
287-288  ;  last  portrait,  329 

Brunelleschi,  disappointment  in 
the  competition  of  1401,  i.,  40  ; 
builds  the  Foundling  Hospifcil, 
45-46  ;  builds  the  dome  of  the 
cathedral,  51-52  ;  builds  San 
Lorenzo,  53 ;  begins  building 
Santo  Spirito,  66  ;  his  last  work,  | 
98  ;  death,  98 

Bulwark  of  the  Medici  family  in 
the  affection  of  the  poorer  classes 
overthrown  by  Cosimo  III., 
ii.,  485 

Buonarmoti,  Bernardo,  given 
charge  of  the  Medici  treasure- 
vault,  ii.,  362 

Buenaventura,  Piero,  first  husband 


of  Bianca  Capello,  ii.,  324 ; 
worthless  character,  325 ;  death, 
326 
Buenaventura,  Pellegrina,  ii. ,  325 
Buontalenti,  assists  Cosimo  I.  to 
lay  out  the  Boboli  Gardens, 
ii.,  256 ;  constructs  the  first 
rooms  of  the  Uffizi  Gallery  for 
Francis  I.,  320;  constructs  the 
"Tribuna"  for  Ferdinand  I., 
353  ;  constructs  the  fort  of  the 
Belvedere,  361 

Cafaggiolo,  villa  of,  built  by 
Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  i.,  107  ; 
enlarged  by  Lorenzo  the  Magni- 
ficent, 290 ;  death  there  of 
Eleonora  di  Toledo  the  younger, 
ii.,  311  ;  view  of,  338 

Cafaggiolo- ware,  ii.,  176 

Calendar,  alteration  of  the,  by 
Pope  Gregory  XIII.,  ii.,  315 

Calimala  (or  Calimara),  i. ,  26 

Galumnij,  picture  of  {see  Botticelli) 

Calvin,  makes  Geneva  the  head- 
quarters of  French  Protestant- 
ism, ii.,  62  ;  condemns  the  Con- 
spiracy of  Amboise,  80 

Cambrai,  League  of,  between 
Maximilian  I.,  Julius  II., 
Louis  XII.,  and  Ferdinand  of 
Spain  to  crush  Venice,  i.,  367  ; 
Treaty  of,  between  Charles  V. 
and  Francis  I.,  468;  Congress 
of,  determines  the  future  of 
Tuscany,  ii. ,  482-484 

Camels,  introduced  into  Tuscany, 
ii.,  449 

Cameos  and  engraved  gems,  col- 
lection of,  now  in  the  Bargello 
museum,  ii.,  502 

Canossa  avenged,  i.,  492 

Cantorie,  reliefs  of  the,  i.,  119  ; 
their  removal  from  the  organ- 
lofts  of  the  cathedral,  ii. ,  466 

Canvases  by  Antonio  Pollajuolo, 
i.,  127 

Capello,  Vittorio,  ii.,  330 

Capponi,  Piero,  i.,  338 

Capponi,  Niccolo,  i.,  473 

Cardona,  Raimondo  da,  com- 
mander of  the  Spanish  forces  in 
Italy,  i.,  379;  attacks  and  sacks 
Prato,  380-381 

Carducci,  Francesco,  Gonfaloniere 


INDEX 


541 


C'arducci — continued. 

during  the  siege,  i.,  473  ;  death, 
47G 

Careggi,  villa  of,  built  by  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae,  i.,  107  ;  literary 
gatherings  there,  216;  Lorenzo's 
death  there,  292 

Carlos,  Don,  of  Spain,  ii.,  481 

Carnesecchi,  Protonotary  to 
Clement  VII.,  ii.,  295  ;  becomes 
a  Protestant,  295  ;  protected  by 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  295 ; 
becomes  a  trusted  adviser  of 
Cosimo  I.,  296;  given  up  to 
the  Inquisition,  296  ;  burnt  to 
death  in  Rome,  296 

Casket  made  by  Valerio  Vicentino, 
ii.,  26;  its  subsequent  history, 
27 

Cassander,  George,  his  treatise 
on  the  points  of  controversy 
between  the  two  religious 
parties,  ii.,  290 

Castagno,  Andrea  del,  i.,  82 

Castello,  villa  of,  robbed  by 
Lorenzo  di  Pier  Francesco  from 
his  nephew,  ii.,  210;  lawsuit 
regarding  it,  210 ;  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere  brought  up 
there,  214  ;  becomes  the  resid- 
ence of  Maria  Salviati,  234 ; 
Cosimo  I.  retires  there,  299 

Castile,  Isabella  of,  marriage 
to  Ferdinand  of  Arragon,  i., 
258 

Castracani,  Castruccio,  Duke  of 
Lucca,  i.,  199 

Cafanto,  tax  of  the,  i.,  47 

Cateau  -  Cambresis,  'JVeaty  of, 
ii.,  274 

Cathedral  of  Florence,  the  (.see 
Duomo) 

Cattaneo,  Simonetta,  i.,  223  ;  her 
death,  229 

Cavalieri,  Emilio,  assists  in  the 
reform  of  music,   ii.,  .'>6() 

Cavalli,  Marino,  \'enetian  ambas- 
sador, his  report  of  tlie  attain- 
ments of  Francis  I.  of  France, 
ii.,  29 

Cavalli,  Sigismondo,  Venetian  am- 
bassador, ii.,  72 

Cellini,  Benvenuto,  employed  by 
Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  320 

Cennini,    Bernardo,   sets    up   the 


first  printing  press  in  Florence, 
i.,  272 

Cerreto  Guidi,  murder  of  Isabella 
de'  Medici  at,  ii.,  314-315 

Chaireddin,  Barbarossa,  diief  of 
the  Bar])ary  pirates,  i.,  ."(02 

Clialcondylas,  Demetrius,  i.,  274 

Chantonnay,  Tliomas  Perrenot  de, 
Spanish  ambassador,  maniier  in 
which  employed  by  I'liilip  II., 
ii.,  100;  his  insolent  beliav  lour, 
101  ;  unceasing  duel  between 
him  and  the  Queen  Regent,  119 

Chariot  races  in  the  l'iazz;i,  Sta. 
Maria  Novella,  ii.,  271 

Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  i.,  2.")7 

Charles  VI.  of  France,  i. ,  26  ; 
death,  49 

Charles  VII.  of  Fraiu-e.  death  of, 
i.,  108 

Charles  V^III.  of  France,  succeeds 
to  the  throne,  i. ,  262  ;  tikes  over 
the  government  from  his  sister, 
308;  invades  Italy,  313-318; 
entry  into  Florence,  335-;?38  ; 
gains  Naples,  339  ;  retreats  to 
France,  339-340  ;  death.  347 

Charles  IX.  of  France,  succeeds 
his  brother  at  the  age  of  ten, 
ii.,  92  ;  taken  by  his  mother  on 
a  tour  through  France,  109 ; 
marriage  to  F^lizabeth  of  Austria, 
121  ;  story  of  his  firing  on  the 
Protestants  from  a  window  of 
the  Louvre,  129  ;  death,  136 

C^harles  V.,  Emperor,  his  genea- 
logy, i.,  41(> ;  invested  at  lifteen 
with  the  rule  of  Flanders.  416  ; 
invested  at  sixteen  with  the  rule 
of  Spain,  416;  succeeds.it  nine- 
teen to  the  throne  of  .Austria, 
416;  elected  Emperor,  417; 
visits  P^ngland,  417  ;  war  with 
Francis  I.  of  France,  417; 
assembles  the  Diet  at  ^\'l^r^ls  to 
allay  the  discord  in  (lennaiiy, 
431  ;  urges  asseml>ly  of  a  (ieneral 
Council,  442  ;  makes  Francis  I. 
a  prisoner,  445  ;  assembles  the 
Diet  at  Speier,  448  ;  pren.ires 
punishment  for  Clement  \  II., 
449  ;  comi)letely  buinl)Ies  him, 
465  ;  makes  a  compact  with  him 
at  Barcelona,  4(j7  ;  concludes  the 


542 


INDEX 


Charles  V. — continued. 

Treaty  of  Cambrai  with  Francis 
I.,  468  ;  proceeds  to  Italy,  409  ; 
meets  Clement  VII.  at  liologna, 
470 ;  assembles  the  Diet  at 
Augsburg,  480 ;  drives  the 
Turks  out  of  Hungary,  481  ; 
meets  Clement  VII.  a  second 
time  at  Bologna,  481  ;  outwitted 
by  him,  485  ;  attacks  the  Bar- 
bary  pirates,  502  ;  petitioned 
to  remove  Alessandro,  502 ; 
arranges  with  Paul  III.  that 
a  General  Council  shall  be 
assembled,  505  ;  visits  Florence, 
505  ;  gives  his  daughter  Mar- 
garet in  marriage  to  Alessandro, 
505;  confirms  Cosimo  I.,  as 
ruler  of  Florence,  ii.,  243- 
244  ;  makes  a  four  years'  truce 
with  Francis  I.,  248  ;  his  terri- 
tories invaded  by  five  French 
armies,  248  ;  makes  peace  with 
Francis  I.  at  Cre'py,  249  ;  urged 
by  Cosimo  I.  to  reduce  the  power 
of  the  Pope,  250 ;  engaged  in 
war  simultaneously  in  Hungary, 
Lorraine,  Savoy,  and  Germany, 
201  ;  abdicates  at  Brussels,  264  ; 
retires  to  the  monastery  of 
Yuste,  204;   death,  264 

Charles  VI.,  Emperor,  agrees  to  the 
succession  of  Anna  Maria  Ludo- 
vica  to  the  throne  of  Tuscany 
after  her  brother,  ii.,  478 

Charles,  Archduke,  of  Austria, 
ii.,  305 

Chartres,  peace  made  at,  between 
Henry  III.  and  the.  Duke  of 
Guise,  ii.,  150 

Chaumont,  chateau  of,  residence 
of  Catherine  de'  Medici  be- 
fore becoming  Queen  Regent, 
ii.,  40;  reminiscences  of  her 
still  to  be  seen,  40  ;  her  strange 
vision  there,  77  ;  exchanged  for 
Chenonceaux,  53 

Chemistry,  passion  of  Francis  I. 
of  Tuscany  for,  ii.,  318  ;  dis- 
coveries made  by  him,  319 

Chenonceaux,  chateau  of,  origin- 
ally a  mill,  ii.,  78;  bought  by 
Francis  I.  of  Fi-ance  as  a  hunt- 
ing lodije,  78  ;  given  by  Henry 
II.  to  Diane  de  Poictiers,  78 ; 


obtained  by  Catherine  de* 
Medici,  64  ;  her  writing  room, 
72  ;  fete  at,  on  conclusion  of 
the  First  Religious  War,  108  ; 
improvements  to,  made  by 
Catherine,  121  ;  fete  at,  to 
inaugurate  reign  of  Henry  HI., 
142  ;  left  by  Catherine  to  Louise 
de  Vaudemont,  159 

Chieregato,  instructions  issued  to 
by  Adrian  VI.,  i.,  433 

Christina,  Queen  of  Sweden,  ii.,  434 

Christine,  daughter  of  Henry  IV. 
of  France,  ii. ,  382 

Cibo,  Giovanni  Battista  (see 
Innocent  VIII.) 

Cibo,  Francesco,  i.,  206 

Cibo,  Innocenzio,  i.,  406 

Cimento,  Accademia  del,  first 
society  formed  in  Europe  for 
experiments  in  natural  science, 
ii.,  438  ;  rules  adopted  by  it, 
438-439 ;  importance  of  the 
results  achieved,  439 ;  its 
dramatic  end,  440 

Ciompi,  riot  of  the,  i.j  21 

Claude,  daughter  of  Henry  II., 
ii.,  38 

Claudia  Felicitas,  daughter  of 
Archduke  of  the  Tyrol,  ii.,  423 

Clement  VIII.,  Pope,  ii.,  350 

Codronchi,  seizes  the  castle  of 
Forli,  ii.,  192 

Coligiiy,  Admiral,  consulted  by 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  ii.,  80 ; 
attends  the  National  Church 
Council  at  Poissy,  98  ;  accused 
of  complicity  in  the  murder  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  107  ;  de- 
feated at  the  battle  of  Mon- 
contour,  118  ;  attends  the 
marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre, 
124  ;  hatred  of  him  by  the 
House  of  Guise,  125  ;  wounded 
by  a  retainer  of  Guise,  126 ; 
killed  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  in 
the  Paris  massacre,  127 

Colonna,  the  attack  on  them  by 
Sixtus  IV.,  ii.,  190;  attack  on 
them  by  Clement  VII.,  i.,  449 

Coloiuia,  Lorenzo,  his  cruel  death, 
ii.,  190 

Colonna,  Stefano,  i.,  475 

Colossal  forgeries,  the,  i.,  249  ; 
their  exposure    by    Laureutius 


INDEX 


543 


Colossal  forgeries — continued. 
Valla,  249  ;    effect  of  this  dis- 
covery, 250 

Column  of  Justice  erected  Viy 
Cosiino  I.,  W.,  238 

Competition  for  execution  of  the 
Baptistery  doors,  i. ,  39-40 

Concini,  Minister  of  Marie  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  382;  his  assassina- 
tion, 385 

Conde,  Prince  of,  secretly  heads 
the  Amboise  plot,  ii.,  81  ; 
forced  by  the  Guises  to  witness 
the  execution  of  liis  friends,  83  ; 
heads  plot  for  a  general  rising, 
88-89  ;  spoken  of  l)y  tlie  Pro- 
testants as  "Louis  XIII.,"  93; 
the  Guises  cause  the  King  to 
summon  him  to  court,  89  ; 
thrown  into  prison  on  his  arrival, 
90  ;  condemned  to  deatli,  92  ; 
his  life  saved  bv  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  93-94  ;'  attends  the 
National  Church  Council,  98; 
commands  the  Protestant  army 
ill  the  First  Religious  ^V'ar, 
lOf;  ;  taken  prisoner,  lOf!  ;  Re- 
conciliation between  him  and 
Montmorency,  107  ;  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Jarnac,  115. 

Conde,  Prince  of,  the  younger, 
present  at  the  marriage  of 
Henry  of  Navarre,  ii.,  124; 
protected  by  Catherine  de' 
Medici  during  the  mas.sacre 
in  Paris,  127 

Conference  at  Saint  Germains  to 
settle  the  religious  discord  in 
France  {nee  Saint  CJcrmains) 

Consiglio  Maggiore,  the,*i.,  343 

Constance,  Council  of  (.vee  CounciH, 

Constiintinople,  fall  of,  i.,  102-105 

Coiitarini,  Lorenzo,  Venetian 
ambassador,  his  reports  as  to 
the  conduct  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  37,  42 

Correr,  ( Jiovanni,  most  capable  of 
all  the  Venetian  ambassadors, 
ii.,  114  ;  his  report  that  Cather- 
ine's abaiulonincnt  of  lier  polic}' 
would  have  been  a  final  calamity 
to  the  kingdom,  114 

Corsi,  Jacopo,  joins  in  composing 
the  first  opera,  ii.,  3fi0 

Corsiui  Tuscan  ambassador  to  tlic  I 


Congress  of  Cambrai,  ii.,  482- 
483 

Cor.so,  horse-race  of  the,  i.,  222 

Cortona,  Piero  Berretini  da,  his 
ceiling-paintings,  ii.,  414-415 

(Josimo  I.,  stiitue  oi  {sec  Statue) 

Council  of  Pisa,  as.sembly  ami  com- 
position, i.,  34  ;  rules  that  a 
Council  is  superior  to  a  Pope, 
35  ;  deposes  the  rival  I'opcs,  35  ; 
its  failure  to  reform  the  Church, 
35 

Council  of  Constance,  as.sembly  and 
composition,  i.,  3() ;  rules  that 
a  Council  is  superior  to  a  Pope, 
37  ;  puts  an  end  to  "the  great 
schism,"  37  ;  elects  Martin  V. 
Pope,  37  ;  its  failure  to  reform 
the  Church,  37 

Council  of  Bale,  assembly,  i.,  71  ; 
compels  Pope  Kugenins  \\ .  to 
acknowledge  its  aiitiiority,  71  ; 
its  contest  with  Kugeiiius  i\'., 
75  ;  its  failure  to  reform  tlie 
Church,  83 

Council  of  Florence,  at  first 
assembled  at  Ferrara,  i.,  82  ; 
comj)Osition,  83  ;  removal  to 
Florence,  84  ;  eifect  on  tiie 
"New  Learning,"  80;  harmful 
to  the  cause  of  the  Papacy,  88  ; 
its  effect  on  Art,  89-90  ;  failure 
of  the  Council,  90-91. 

Council  of  Trent,  assembly,  ii., 
249  ;  regarded  without  interest 
by  Europe,  249  ;  foils  to  achieve 
the  object  for  which  assemliled, 
289;  adds  a  new  creed,  289; 
accentuates  the  diffeiences  lie- 
tween  tlie  two  parties,  290 

Cranmer,  Thomas,  created  .\rcli- 
bishop  of  Canterbury  l)y(  lenuMit 
\  II.,  i.,  483;  ainnils  Ileiny 
VI 1 1. 's  marriage  with  Katharine 
of  Arragon,  483 

Craon,  Prince  de,  ii.,  4i)G 

Credi,  Lorenzo  di,  i.,  371 

(ropy.  Peace  of,  ii.,  249 

CriMiuy,  Due  de,  ii.,  453 

Croce,  Santi,  church  of  (.vcc  SanUi 
t  roce) 

Crocetta,  convent  of  the,  ii.,  397  ; 
jialace  of,  4  15 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  iiis  action  re 
garding  the  persecution  of  the 


544 


INDEX 


Cromwell — continued. 

WuMenseSjii. ,  448 ;  presents  his 
portrait  to  Ferdinand  II.,  448 

Crown,  scheme  ofOiulio  de'  Medici 
to  attain  it,  i.,  3BG  ;  the  first 
step  towards  it  achieved,  .388  ; 
the  second  step  achieved,  890- 
391  ;  the  third  step  achieved, 
478  ;  the  crown  at  last  gained, 
ii.,  297 

Crown  of  Tuscany,  its  special 
shape,  ii.,  298 

Crown  and  sceptre,  custom  of 
burying  with,  ii.,  300 

Ci'usca,  Accademia  della,  ii.,  319 

Cuniga,  Spanish  ambassador,  his 
report  that  the  massacre  in 
Paris  was  not  a  prearranged 
plot,  ii.,  128 

DANCING  Faun,  the,  statue  of, 
ii.,  341 

Dante,  i.,  2 

Daun,  Marshal,  ii.,  490 

Dauphin,  Francis,  death  of  the, 
ii.,  32-33 

David,  bronze  statue  of,  by  Dona- 
tello,  executed  for  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae,  i.,  G6  ;  an  epoch-making 
statue,  111-112 

Dawn  of  Art,  the,  i.,  29 

Deffant,  Madame  du,  ii.,  453 

Delhi,  inlay  work  in  palace  at, 
ii.,  429-431 

Desiderio  da  Settignano,  i.,  125 

Despotic  monarchy  succeeding  a 
republic,  effects  of  a,  ii.,  308-369 

Destruction  of  St  Peter's,  Rome, 
i.,  377-378 

Dialogues,  the,  of  Galileo,  ii.,  405 

Diana  de  Poictiers,  her  sway  over 
Henry  II.,  ii.,  39;  created 
Duchess  of  Valentinois,  40  ;  dis- 
poses of  all  offices,  40 ;  the 
Guises  her  vassals,  40  ;  insults 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  41  ; 
banished  from  court,  53  ;  opposi- 
tion to  the  Protestant  religion, 
62 

Diet  of  Worms,  i.,  431  ;  of  Speier, 
448 ;  of  Augsburg,  480 ;  of 
Ratisbon,  481 

Dome  of  the  Florence  cathedral, 
building  of,  i.,  51-53  ;  comple- 
tion, 79-80 


Donatello,  his  new   departure  in 
sculpture,      i.,     109-111;     his 
message  to  the  world    of  Art, 
113  ;  other  works,  114  ;  death, 
1G4 
Donati,  Lucrezia,  i.,  159 
Dower  Fund,  the,  i.,  293 
Dress,      strict     laws      regarding, 

i.,  43-45 
Duccio  di  Buoninsegna,  i.,  29 
"  Duchessina,"  title  of,  i.,  491 
Dudley,  Sir  Robert,  ii.,  384 
Duonio,    the,    the    cathedral     of 
Florence,  words  of  the  Signoria 
when  ordering  it  to  be  designed, 
i.,  9  ;  commencement,  27  ;  com- 
pletion and  consecration,  79 

Early  masters.  Lord  Lindsay's 
words  about  their  efforts,  i.,  146 

Edict  of  January  (1561),  the, 
stopping  all  persecutions  in 
France,  ii.,  95 

"  Edict  of  January  "  (1562),  the 
origin  and  promulgation  of 
Catherine  de'  Medici's  cele- 
brated edict,  ii.,  103-104  ;  pro- 
vided the  balance  which  France 
required,  139-140 ;  refutes  the 
theory  that  there  was  a  change 
in  the  attitude  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  140 

Edict  of  Amboise  (1563),  ii.,  107 

Edict  of  Nantes,  revocation  of  the, 
ii.,  470 

Edward  IV.  of  England,  i.,  262 

Edward  V.  of  England,  i.,  262 

Effect  in  the  present  day  of 
the  Medici  gifts  to  Florence, 
ii.,  504-505 

Efficiency  of  Cosimo  I.'s  govern- 
ment, ii.,  265 

Eighth  Religious  War  in  France, 
ii.,  152-153 

Elba,  island  of,  ceded  in  part  to 
Tuscany,  ii.,  252 

Elba  iron  mines,  ii.,  266 

Elector  Palatine,  William,  ii.,  471 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England, 
anxious  to  join  in  the  conflict  in 
France,  ii.,  100  ;  sends  a  force 
which  seizes  Rouen,  106  ;  enter- 
tains proposals  to  marry  Cath- 
erine's son  Henry,  121  ;  puts  to 
death  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  1 54 


INDEX 


545 


Elizabeth  of  Austria^  married  to 
Charles  IX.  of  France,  ii.,  121  ; 
high  character,  122  ;  speech 
regarding  her  child  being  a 
daughter,  13(5 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  II. 
of  France,  married  to  Philip  II. 
of  Spain,  ii.,  52;  comes  to  the 
meeting  at  Bayonne,  110-111  ; 
death,  115 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Plenry  IV, 
of  France,  married  to  Philip 
IV.  of  Spain,  ii.,  'J82 

Elizabeth  of  Parma,  married  to 
I'hilip  V.   of  Spain,  ii.,  480 

Embalming,  instance  of  unusual 
perfection  of,  ii.,  318 

Error  of  judging  characters  in 
history  by  the  standard  of 
another  age  from  that  in  which 
tliey  lived,  ii.,  2 

Escalier  a  jour,  at  Blois,  ii.,  157 

Este,  Ercole  d',  I.,  assists  Luca 
Pitti's rebellion, i.,  154  ;  succeeds 
his  brother  as  Duke  of  Ferrara, 
221 

Este,  Beatrice  d',  Duchess  of 
Milan,  i.,  221 

Este,  Isabella  d'.  Marchioness  of 
Mantua,  desires  to  buy  Lorenzo's 
vases,  i.,  321  ;  visit  to  Rome  in 
the  time  of  Leo  X.,  415  ;  her 
classical  studies,  ii.,  182 

Este,  Alfonso  d',  I.,  married  to 
Lucrezia  Borgia,  i. ,  365 ;  attacked 
by  Leo  X.,  410 

Este,  Ippolito  d',  Cardinal  of 
Ferrara,  ii.,  98 

Este,  Ercole  d',  II.,  his  friendship 
with  Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  272 

Este,  Alfonso  d',  II.,  married  to 
Lucrezia  de'  Medici,  ii.,  274 

Etruscan  collections  in  Florence, 
ii.,  258-259 

Eugenius  IV.,  Pope,  forcetl  to 
acknowledge  the  Council  of 
Bale,  i.,  71  ;  struggle  with  tlio 
Council,  75 ;  takes  refuge  in 
Florence,  76  ;  summons  a  frcsli 
council,  82  ;  attends  the  Council 
of  Florence,  85;  his  return  to 
Rome,  05  ;  death,  99 

Europe,  general  condition  of,  at 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  i.,  25-27 


Excommunication  of  Tuscany  by 
Sixtus  IV.,  i.,  246-247 

Excommunication  of  tlie  i'ope  by 
the  Churcli  of  Tuscany,  i.,  260- 
261 

Executions  by  means  of  assassina- 
tion, ii.,  306 

E.vtraordinary  advance  of  Tuscany 
in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  ii.,  301-302 

FAE.vzA-WAnE,  collection  of,  now 
in  the  Hargello  museum,  ii.,  603 

Falconieri,  Paolo,  ii.,  468 

False  principle  in  art  of  employ- 
ing the  subject  to  display  the 
artist's  powers,  instead  of  vice 
versa,  and  its  destructive  result, 
i.,  373 

Fanali,  or  ornamental  lamps  to 
palaces,  i.,  140 

Farnese,  Alessandro  {s^ec  Paul  III.) 

Farnese,  Ottavio,  marries  .Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Charles  \'., 
i.,512 

Farnese,  Edoardo,  Duke  of 
Parma,  marries  Margherita  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  398;  assisted  by 
Tuscany  in  defending  Castro 
and  Ronciglione  from  seizure, 
433 

Fashion  among  ladies  of  shaving 
the  front  of  their  hair,  i.,  507 

Fedele,  Cassandra,  i.,  187 

Feo,  Tommaso,  ii.,  192,  195 

Feo,  Giacomo,  marries  Catherine 
Sforza,  ii.,  195 

Ferdinand  (or  Ferrantc),  King  of 
Naples,  joins  Sixtus  IV'.  in  war 
against  Florence,  i.,  24()  ;  won 
over  by  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi- 
cent, 252-253;  death,  313 

Ferdinand,  King  of  Arragon, 
marries  Isabella  of  Castile, 
i.,  258;  conquers  Naples,  366; 
joins  the  league  against  X'enice, 
':5(i7  ;  death.  416 

Ferdinand  I.,  Kinperor.  gains  the 
crowns  of  Ilungaryaiul  Moiifuiia, 
i.,  480;  succeeds  his  firotfier 
Cliarles  V.  as  lunperor,  ii.,  264  ; 
endeavours  to  heal  the  lirc.iclj 
between  the  two  religious  narliea 
even  after  the  Council  of  Trent, 
290 ;  death,  2iK) 


546 


INDEX 


Ferdinand  II.,  Emperor,  ii.,  888 

Ferdinand  Karl,  Archduke  of 
Tyrol,  marries  Anna  de'  Medici, 
ii.,  422 

Ferdinand  I.  of  Tuscany,  statue  of 
{.fee  Statue) 

Fermo,  attack  and  capture  of, 
ii.,  217 

Ferrante,  King  of  Naples  (see 
Ferdinand) 

Ferrara,  Duke  of  {.see  Este) 

Ferrara,  Council  of,  removed  to 
Florence,  i.,  84 

Ferri,  Ciro,  his  ceiling-paintings, 
ii.,  414 

Ferrucci,  Francesco,  his  brave  de- 
fence of  Florence,  i.  474-47-5  ; 
his  death  at  Gavinana,  476 

P  iciiio,  Marsilio,  treated  by  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae  like  a  son,  i.,  144  ; 
head  of  tlie  Platonic  Academy, 
280  ;  his  chief  works,  280 

Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  i.,  417 

Fifth  Religious  War  in  France, 
ii.,  136-139 

First  Religious  War  in  France, 
ii.,  10.5-108 

Flagellants,  the,  ii.,  137 

Fleix,  Peace  of,  ii.,  151 

Fleurange,  his  description  of  the 
festivities  at  Amboise,  i.,  898 

Florence,  pre  -  eminent  in  four 
"avenues,"  i.,  6-7;  her  "Val- 
halla," 8  ;  vivid  records  of  the 
past,  10  ;  contrast  with  Venice, 
11  ;  internecine  strife,  22  ; 
system  of  government,  23  ;  re- 
venue and  trade,  24  ;  buildings, 
27  ;  frugal  habits,  43 

War  of  1422  with  Milan,  46 
of  1429  with  Lucca,  72 

—  of  1433  with  Milan,  72 

of  1486  with  Milan,  82 

of  1437  with  Lucca,  82 

of  1438  with  Milan,  92 

of  1446  with  Milan,  97 

of  1452  with  Venice,  100 

of  1467  with  Venice,  156 

of  1478  with  Pope  and 

Naples,  246 

Encircled     by    Lorenzo     the 
Magnificent   with    a    ring   of 
friendly  states,  270 
Miserable  condition  during  1498- 
1512,  362-363 


Siege  of  the  city  and  end  of  the 

republic,  472-478 
Increase    of    prosperity    under 

Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  243 
Development  under  Ferdinand 

I.,  ii.,  846-349 
Leads  the  way  in  Music  under 

Ferdinand  I.,  ii.,  859 
Leads  the  way  in  Science  under 

Cosimo  II.,  ii.,  376-380 
Misgovernment     under    Ferdi- 
nand II.,  ii.,  411-412 
New  industries  and  further  ad- 
vance in  the  cause  of  Science, 
ii.,  420-422  and  487-439 
Abyss  of  misrule  under  Cosimo 

III.,  ii.,  462-463 
Struggle  to  preserve  independ- 
ence, ii.,  477-484  and  490-492 
Spanish  troops  quartered  in  the 

country,  ii.,  492 
The  country  sold  by  the  powers 
of  Europe  to  Austria,  ii.,  498 
Florence    and    Agra,   their    con- 
nection, ii.,  428-433 
Florentine  guilds,  i.,  50 
Florentine  palaces,  i.,  141 
Florentine  pietra   dura  industry, 
originated     by    Ferdinand     I., 
ii.,  358-8.59;  further  developed 
by  Ferdinand  II.,  420-422 
Florentine  Tapestry  Manufactory, 

ii.,  209-271 
Florin,  the  gold,  staudai'd  of  value 

for  Europe,  i.,  24 
Forged  Decretnh-,  the,  i.,  249 
Forli,     seized     by     Sixtus     W., 
ii.,    188  ;    first    visit    to    it    of 
Catherine  Sforza  and  her  hus- 
band, 189  ;  insurrection  of,  198- 
195  ;  attacked  by  Caesar  Borgia 
and  the  French,  204  ;  the  town 
surrenders,  205  ;  defence  of  the 
castle  by  Catherine  Sforza,  205- 
206  ;  capture  of  the  castle,  206 
Form   in    Art    to   express   spirit, 

i.,  113 
Fornovo,  battle  of,  i.,  340-341 
Fort  San  Giorgio,  begun  by  Cosimo 
I.,  ii.,  257  ;  completed  by  Ferdi- 
nand    I.,     361  ;     subterranean 
chamber  in,  361 
Fortebraccio,  marches  upon  Rome, 

i.,  75 
Fortezza  da  Basso,  construction  of, 


INDEX 


54' 


Fortezza  da  Basso — continued. 
'\.,  477  ;  death  of  Filippo  Strozzi 
in,  ii.,  240 

Fortitude,  picture  of  {see  Botticelli) 

Fortress  of  San  Martiuo,  north  of 
Florence,  ii.,  267-208 

Fortress  of  Sta.  Barbara,  at  Siena, 
ii.,2G4 

Foscari, Francesco,  Doge  of  V'enice, 
death  of,  i.,  108 

Foundling  Hospital,  the,  founded 
and  endowed  by  Giovanni  de' 
Medici,  i.,  45  ;  the  first  im- 
portant work  of  Brunelk'schi,  46 

Fourth  Religious  VV^1r  in  France, 
ii.,  136 

France  made  their  battle-ground 
by  Geneva  and  Rome,  ii.,  62 

Francis  I.  of  France,  accession, 
i.,  392  ;  gives  his  young  aunt  in 
marriage  to  (Jiulianode'  Medici, 
393  ;  invades  Italy,  406  ;  meets 
Leo  X.  at  liologna,  407  ;  declares 
war  against  Charles  V.,  417  ; 
lays  waste  Provence,  443  ;  taken 
prisoner  at  Pavia,  44.5  ;  regains 
his  liberty,  446  ;  deserts  his 
allies,  468  ;  agrees  to  renounce 
all  interference  in  Itiily,  468  ; 
agrees  to  tlie  marriage  of  his 
second  son  to  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  484  ;  makes  an  alliance 
witli  the  Turkish  Sultan,  504  ; 
captures  Savoy,  505  ;  his  con- 
stiint  changes  of  residence, 
ii.,  28  ;  attainments  and  love  of 
field  sports,  29 ;  grief  at  his 
eldest  son's  deatli,  32  ;  refusal 
to  allow  Catherine  de'  Medici  to 
be  divorced,  37  ;  death,  38 

Francis  II.  of  France,  marriage  to 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  ii.,  51  ; 
feeble  character,  74  ;  ruled  by 
tlie  Guises,  75  ;  joins  in  the 
plot  to  kill  Navarre,  90-91  ;  con- 
demns Condc  to  death,  92;  dies, 
92 

Francis,  Due  d'Alengon,  proposal 
tliat  he  shouM  be  married  to 
Fiizabetli  of  England,  ii.,  121  ; 
held  a  prisoner  at  Amboise  to 
keep  liim  out  of  mischief,  92  ; 
liis  death,   152 

Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine  {see 
Lorraine) 


Frederick  III.,  Emperor,  elected 
Emperor,  i.,  99  ;  visit  to  Flor- 
ence, 100  ;  death,  312 

Frescoes  in  chapel  of  the  Medici 
Palace,  descrii)ti(in,  i.,  191-194  ; 
allusions  to  tlie  deeds  of  the 
Medici,  195-200  ;  other  hi.s- 
torical  interest,  200-202  ;  prolj- 
lem  as  to  their  date,  202-2<»5 

Fundamental  idea  underlying  the 
two  cliief  works  of  .Michelangelo 
and  Kai)liael,  i.,  375 

Fuoru.sciti,  the,  a  recognised  party 
in  Florentine  politics,  i.,  502  ; 
their  ap])eal  to  Cliarles  V.  to 
remove  Alessandro,  502 

Galileo,  birth,  ii.,  377  ;  made 
Professor  of  Mathematics  at 
Pisa  at  twenty -tbree,  377; 
invents  the  pendulum,  377  ; 
forced  l>y  jealousy  to  resign  and 
retire  to  Padua,  378  ;  invited 
back  to  Tuscany  by  Cosimo  II. 
and  protected  by  him,  378  ; 
invents  the  telescope,  378  ;  his 
first  gi'eat  discoveries  in  as- 
tronomy, 379  ;  discovers  the 
satellites  of  Jupiter,  381  ;  dis- 
covers the  rings  of  Saturn,  405  ; 
his  four  visits  to  Rome,  405  ; 
publishes  his  Dialmiues,  405  ; 
summoned  before  tlie  Inquisi- 
tion in  Rome,  40(!  ;  liis  tlieories 
condemned,  406  ;  confined  dur- 
ing the  Popes  pleasure.  407  ; 
suffered  to  retin-n  to  Florence, 
but  prohil)ited  from  piibllsliing 
anything  more,  407  ;  l)ecomes 
blind,  407  ;  visited  l>v  Milton, 
407  :  his  death.  408';  Imried 
at  first  in  tlie  Medici  cliapel 
in  Santa  Croce,  408  ;  liis  monu- 
ment, 408 

Gallegai,  Ix'onora,  ii.,  382 

(iarigliano,  l)attle  of,  i.,  366 

(iaston  de  Foix,  i.,  379 

(iaurico,  predicts  death  of  Ileiirv 
II.,ii.,52 

(iavinana,  liattle  of,  i.,  475 

(iaza,  Theodorus,  i.,  274 

(Jems,  collerti(ui  of,  in  tlie  (Jem 
Room,  I'fli/.i  (iallery,  ii.,  502 

Genius  for  pacifying  strife  pns- 
se.ssed  by  liie  Metlir-i,  i.,  208; 


548 


INDEX 


Genius  for  pacifying  strife — cnntd. 
evinced  even  by  Giulio  de' 
Medici,  429 ;  the  quality  ex- 
hibited for  the  last  time, 
ii.,  440-441 

Genius  of  the  Medici,  The,  statue 
of  {see  Statue) 

Ghetti,  Rosaria,  her  cruel  death, 
ii.,  197-198 

Ghibellines,  the,  their  struggle 
witli  the  Guelphs  for  possession 
of  Florence,  i.,  21-22 

Ghiberti,  his  work  for  Art,  i.,  41  ; 
completes  his  first  pair  of  doors, 
54  ;  completes  his  second  pair  of 
doors,  120;  death,  120;  all  that 
grew  out  of  his  work,  122 

Ghirlandajo,  character  of  his 
art,  i.,  288  ;  his  record  of  the 
men  and  women  of  the  time, 
289 ;  frescoes  in  Sta.  Maria 
Novella,  Sta.  Trinita,  and  Ognis- 
santi,  289  ;  portrait  of  himself, 
289  ;  death,  289 

Gian  da  Bologna,  his  works  for 
Francis  I.  and  Ferdinand  I. 
{see  Statue) 

Gift,  the  immense,  made  by  the 
last  of  the  Medici  to  Florence, 
ii.,  500-504 

Giotteschi,  the,  i.,  29 

Giotto,  i.,  2 

Giustiniano,  Marino,  Venetian 
ambassador,  ii. ,  28 

Gold  dessert  service,  rare  china, 
and  other  precious  things,  now 
in  Treasure  Room  of  Pitti 
Palace,  ii.,  503 

Golden  Fleece,  Order  of  the, 
conferred  on  Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  261 ; 
last  chapter  of  the  Order,  275 

Golden  Rose,  the,  conferred  on 
Violante  Beatrice,  ii.,  488 

Gonsalvo,  Spanish  commander  in 
Southern  Italy,  i.,  366 

Gonzaga,  Cecilia,  one  of  the 
first  ladies  to  win  literary 
renown,  i.,  187 ;  her  reading 
and  writing  Greek  at  eight 
years  old,  ii.,  182 

Gonzaga,  Elisabetta,  Duchess  of 
Urbino,  renowned  for  literary 
and  artistic  culture,  i.,  388; 
her  singing  of  Virgil's  poems, 
ii..  182 


Gonzaga,  Federigo,  Duke  of 
Mantua,  tries  to  obtain  posses- 
sion of  the  portrait  of  Leo  X., 
i.,  445  ;  his  care  of  the  wounded 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere, 
ii.,  222  ;  represents  the  Emperor 
at  tlie  capitulation  of  Florence, 
i.,  476 

Gonzaga,  Eleonora,  daughter  of 
Gian  Francesco  Gonzaga  and  his 
wife  Isabella  d'Este,  i.,  454 

Gonzaga,  Vincenzo,  Duke  of 
Mantua,  marries  Eleonora  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  321 

Gonzaga,  Eleonora,  daughter  of 
Vincenzo  Gonzaga,  ii.,  382 

Gonzaga,  Ferdinand,  Duke  of 
Mantua,  marries  Caterina  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  387 

Gonzaga,  Eleonora,  daughter  of 
the  Duke  of  Guastella,  ii.,  476 

Gorini,  Antonia,  i.,  244 

Governolo,  battle  of,  ii.,  222 

Gozzoli,  IBenozzo,  character  of 
his  art,  i.,  169  ;  earliest  frescoes 
at  Montefalco,  169  ;  frescoes  at 
San  Gimignano,  169  ;  at  Pisa, 
170  ;  in  the  Medici  Palace  {see 
Frescoes) ;  his  death,  170 

Granada,  capture  of,  i.,  307 

Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany,  the 
Medici  created,  ii.,  297 

Greek,  first  Academy  for,  founded 
by  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
i.,  273 

Gregory  XII.,  Pope,  i.,  35 

Gregory  XIII.,  Pope,  election, 
ii.,  297  ;  his  reform  of  the 
calendar,  315  ;  action  in  regard 
to  Orsini  and  Vittoria  Accoram- 
boni,  315  ;  death,  316 

Gregory  XIV.,  Pope,  ii.,  350 

Gregory  XV.,  Pope,  ii.,  394 

Grocin,  William,  first  Professor 
of  Greek  at  Oxford,  i.,  274 

Guelphs,  the,  finally  victorious 
over  the  Ghibellines  in  the 
struggle  for  Florence,  i.,  22 

Guicciardini,  Francesco,  helps 
to  elect  Cosimo,  ii.,  236  ;  com- 
mences his  history  of  Florence, 
237  ;  his  statement  ascribing 
the  prosperity  of  Italy  chiefly 
to  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
i.,  264 


INDEX 


549 


Guild-home  of  the  Guild  of  Wool, 

i.,  28 
Guise,  family  of,  ii.,  40  ;  ambition, 
76  ;  hatred  felt  for  them,  80  ; 
lead  the  Roman  C'atliolic  party, 
82 ;    determination    to    avenge 
the   murder  of  Francis,   Duke 
of  Guise,  125 
Guise,  Francis,  Duke  of,  succeeds 
his  father,  ii.,  40;  made  supreme 
in  military  affairs,  70  ;  conducts 
the  slaughter  of  Protestants  at 
Amboise,   82-84 ;    his   effort   to 
force  Catherine   de'    Medici   to 
put  Conde  to  death,  93  ;  attends 
the  Council  of  Poissy,  98  ;  seizes 
Paris,  106  ;  captures  the  Queen 
Regent  and  the  King,  10(5  ;  his 
murder,  107 
Guise,   Anna  d'Este,  Duchess  of, 
forced  to  witness  the  executions 
at  Amboise,  ii.,  86  ;    lielps   to 
incite  her  son  to  murder  Coligny, 
126 
Guise,    Charles    of.    Cardinal    of 
Lorraine,    made    supreme   over 
civil  affairs  in   France,  ii.,  70  ; 
character,  79  ;  his  persecutions 
of  Protestants,  79  ;  his  and  liis 
brothers'  action  at  Amboise,  81- 
84  ;  the  objects  they  had  in  view, 
85-86  ;  letter  addressed  to  him 
as  "the  Tiger  of  France,"  88; 
his   and    his    brothers'    plot   to 
murder  the   King   of  Navarre, 
90-91  ;  their  determination  that 
Conde  should  not  be  saved,  92  ; 
attends  the  Council  of  Poissy,  98 
Guise,  Henry,  Duke  of,  determi- 
nation   to   avenge   his    father's 
death,     ii.,    125  ;     begins    tlie 
massacre    in    Paris    by    killing 
Coligny,  127  ;  forms  the  League, 
143  ;    gains   one  -  tliird   of   the 
kingdom,     153;     seizes     I'aris, 
155  ;    agrees  to   a  ■J)oace,    156 ; 
his  murder  at  lilois,  157-158 
Gustavus      Adolpluis,      King     of 
Sweden,    joins    in    the   war   in 
Germany,    ii.,    400;    killed    at 
the  battle  of  Lutzen,  403 

Henrietta    Maria,    daughter    of 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  ii.,  382 
Henry  V.  of  England,  accession. 


i.,  36  ;  iuyades  France,  36  ;  wins 
battle  of  Agincourt,  36  ;    made 
Regent  of  France,  49;  death,  49 
Henry  VH.  of  England,  gains  the 
throne,    i.,    262;    letters    from 
him  to  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
264  ;  death,  369 
Henry  VIII.  of  England, acceesiou, 
i.,   369 ;    marries   Katharine  of 
Arragon,     369 ;      rivalry     with 
Francis  I.  of  France  and  Charles 
of  Austria,  416  ;  meeting  of  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  417  ; 
on  outbreak  of  war  sides   with 
Charles,    417  ;    after    favouring 
Francis  again  sides  witli  Charles, 
431  ;    joins    the    Holy    lA-ague 
against  Charles,  447  ;  begins  to 
press   the    Pope    for   a  divorce 
from    Katharine    of    Arragon, 
455  ;    abandons   his   allies   and 
makes  peace  with  Charles,  4(i8  ; 
secretly  assists  tlie  Protestants 
in  Germanyin  orderto  emi)arra«3 
Charles,  480  ;  his  struggle  with 
Clement  VII.   to  force   him   to 
agree  to  the  divorce,  482-484  ; 
marries  Anne  Boleyn,  483  ;  liis 
marriage    with     Katliarine    an- 
nulled    by     the     A  rcli  bishop's 
Court,  483  ;  sentence  of  excom- 
munication pronoiniced  against 
him  by  Clement  \'I1.  unless  he 
would   take   back   Katharine  of 
Arragon,  487  ;  death,  ii.,  249 
Henry  II.  of  France,  marriage  to 
Catherine   de'   Medici,   ii.,   25; 
character,    25-26 ;    falls    under 
tlie     dominion     of     Diane     de 
Poictiers,   34  ;    succeeds  to  the 
throne,  38  ;  surrenders  all  power 
to    Diane    de    Poiftiers,    3!)-41  ; 
is   persuaded   to   offer    a    publie 
affront  to  the  Queen.  4'>  ;  cbaMge 
of  conduct    after   the   panic    in 
Paris,  49  ;    killed  at  a   tourna- 
ment, 53 
Henry     III.     of     France,     made 
Lieut. -(leneral  of  tlie  kingdom, 
ii.,  137;  i)roposals  for  bis  mar 
riage  to  Eliz;ibetli  of  Eii;:land, 
121  ;   elected   King  of   Poland, 
137  ;   flight  from    Poland,   137  ; 
succeeds     to     tlie     throne     of 
France,  130  ;  strange  character, 


550 


INDEX 


Henry  III. — continued. 

18(;-137 ;     marriage    to    Louise 
de  Vaudemoiit,  188-139  ;   dress 
at  the  Cheiionceaux  fete,  142  ; 
involved  in  the  Eighth  Religious 
War,    162  ;    leads   an   army  to 
expel  the  Germans  from  France, 
154  ;    flies    from     Paris,    156 ; 
makes  peace  with  the  Duke  of 
Guise,    156  ;     assassinates    the 
latter  at  Blois,  158  ;  death,  158 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  marriage  to 
Marguerite  of  Valois,  ii.,  124; 
takes  part   in   the   Eighth   Re- 
ligious War,  152-153  ;  struggle 
for   his   crown,  349 ;    gains  his 
throne    through     assistance    of 
Ferdinand  I.   of  Tuscany,  349 
becomes  a  Roman  Catholic,  350 
marries  Maria  de'  Medici,  351 
dissensions  with   her,  351-352 
death,  381 
Henry,    Duke     of    Orleans     (see 

Henry  II.  of  France) 
Henry  of  Navarre  (see  Henry  IV. 

of  France) 
Herschel,   Sir  John,  his  remarks 
about  Galileo's  first  discoveries, 
ii.,  379 
Hollow  coin  enclosing  miniature, 

ii.,452 
Horse-races  {see  Corso) 
"Hundred     Years'     War,"     the, 

ended,  i.,  102 
Hungary,      the     Turks     expelled 

from,  by  Charles  V.,  i.,  481 
Hunniades,  John,  stops  the  Turks 
from    spreading    over    Europe, 
i.,  104 
Hus,  John,   burnt  at  Constance, 

i.,38 
Hydrostatic  balance,  invention  of 

the,  ii.,  379 
Hygiene,  science  of,  ii.,  70-71 

"  It,  MoBO  "  (see  Ludovico  Sforza) 
Imola,  dowry  of  Catherine  Sforza, 

ii.,  184  ;  taken  by  Ctesar  Borgia, 

204 
Impossible    figures,    tendency    to 

create,   condemned   by  modern 

histoi-y,  ii.,  1-2 
Inlaid   tables   and   cabinets,    now 

in  Uffizi  and  Pitti  galleries  and 

the  Royal  apartments,  ii.,  503 


Iiniocent    VIII.,    Pope,   election, 
i.,    261  ;    his   high    opinion    of 
Lorenzo's  abilities,  201  ;  makes 
(Jiovanni  de'  Medici  a  cardinal, 
268  ;  dissensions  with  the  King 
of  Naples,  269;  death,  308 
Innocent  IX.,  Pope,  ii.,  350 
Innocent     X.,      Pope,     election, 
ii.,  424 ;    friendly   attitude   to- 
wards Ferdinand  II.,  425;  makes 
Giovanni  Carlo  de'  Medici  a  car- 
dinal, 425  ;  death,  434 
Inquisition,     the,     forbidden     in 
France  by  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
ii.,    141  ;    puts  to   death    Car- 
nesecchi,  296 ;   its  cruel  treat- 
ment of  Galileo,  406-407  ;  holds 
its  tribunal  in  Florence  in  the 
cloisters  of  Santa   Croce,  412  ; 
condemns    to    death     Cardinal 
Pandolfo  Ricasoli,  412-413 
Intursiaturu  work,  ii.,  358-359 
Ireland,  massacre  in  (see  Massacre) 
Ireland,  wretched  condition  of  the 
inhabitants    as    compared   with 
those  of  Tuscany,  ii. ,  457 
Italian  opera  (see  Opera) 
Italian  states  cease  to  take  the  lead 
in  European  politics,  i.,  312 

Jarnac,  battle  of,  ii.,  116 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  Queen  of  Navarre 

(see  Albret) 

Jerome  of  Prague,  burnt  at  Con- 
stance, i.,  38 

Jesuits,  the,  recognition  of  the 
Order,  ii.,  346;  their  animosity 
against  the  new  theories  of 
science,  378 ;  their  contest 
against  Galileo,  405-406 ;  the 
domination  established  by  them 
over  Tuscany,  411-412 

Jewellers'  shops  on  the  Ponte 
Vecchio,  ii.,  294 

Joan  of  Arc,  i.,  70 

John  XXIII.,  Pope,  election, 
i.,  36  ;  imprisoned  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Constance,  37  ;  his  re- 
lease, 45  ;  death,  45  ;  monu- 
ment in  the  Baptistery,  45 

Joseph,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, attends  the  Council  of 
Florence,  i.,  84  ;  death,  90 

Judith,  picture  of  (see  Botticelli) 

Judith    slayiny   HolofeiTies ,   statue 


INDEX 


551 


Judith  slai/ing  Hohf ernes — contiJ. 
of,  by  Doiiatello,  executed  tor 
Cosiino,  i.,  OG ;  placed  in  the 
cortile  of  the  Medici  Palace,  112 ; 
set  up  in  front  of  the  Palazzo 
della  Signoria,  322 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  election,  i.,  300  ; 
character,  300  ;  his  portrait  by 
Raphael,  300;  founds  the 
"  States  of  the  Church,"  307  ; 
forms  a  league  against  Venice, 
307 ;  endeavours  to  drive  tlie 
French  from  Italy,  309 ;  scheme 
of  theology,  375  ;  project  for  an 
immense  tomb,  377  ;  destroys 
St  Peter's,  378  ;  defeat  at 
Ravenna,  379 ;  reinstates  the 
Medici  in  Florence,  380-383 ; 
death,  390 

Julius  III.,  Pope,  ii.,  2.53 

Jupiter,  discovery  of  the  satellites 
of  the  planet,  ii.,  381 

Katharink      of      Arragon      (.sre 

Arragon) 
Knife-whetter ,     the,     statue     of, 

ii.,  341 

Ladiks  beginning  to  emerge  from 
their  previous  seclusion,  i.,  187 

Ladies  of  the  (iftecntli  century, 
style  of  education  given  to,  ii., 
181 -183 

Ladies  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century  in  France, 
their  unique  character,  ii.,  .5.5-50 

"  Ladies'  League,"  the  {see  Cambrai, 
Treaty  of) 

Ladislas,  King  of  Naples,  i.,  .35 

Landino,  Cristoforo,  i.,  281 

Languet,  ii.,  9.5 

Lannoy,  coniniander  of  the  Im- 
perial armies  in  Itiily,  i.,  443; 
his  great  victory  at  Pavia,  445  ; 
death,  455 

Lapi,  Niccolo  de',  i.,  470 

Lascaris,  Ciiovanni,  his  joiuMieys  to 
tlie  east  for  Lorenzo  the  Magni- 
ficent, i.,  272  ;  his  assistance  to 
Leo  X.,  413 

I^aurentian  Library  {.see  Meilici 
Library) 

I^uitrec,  De,  French  conunander 
in  Italy,  i.,  4(!0 

Leiigue,   the,   formed    to    defend 


Roman  Catholic  interests  in 
France,  ii.,  143;  con(|uers  one- 
third  of  France,  1.53  ;  intrigues 
with  Spain,  154 ;  trains  possession 
of  Paris,  1.55  ;  its  contest  with 
Henry  I\'.,  .'Mi) 

Learning,  Resuscitation  of  {nee 
Resuscitation) 

Learning  and  Art,  connection 
between,  i.,  145-147 

Lefevre,  Jacques,  French  reformer, 
ii.,  02 

Ijeghorn,  the  port  begun  by 
Cosimo  I.,  ii.,200;  carried  on 
by  Francis  I.,  307;  iunnense 
development  of  by  IVnlinand 
I.,  .347-348;  seized  by  Spain,  492 

Leo  XL,  i*ope,  ii.,  .3(!4 

Leonardo  da  \'inci,.sent  by  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent  to  the  Duke  of 
Milan,  i.,  372;  founds  the 
Milanese  scliool  of  painting, 
372  ;  at  work  in  Florence,  371  ; 
proceeds  to  France,  372  ;  death. 
372 

Leonora  of  Arragon  {see  Arrajron) 

Ijcopold  V'.,  Archduke  of  iynd, 
ii.,39e 

Lepanto,  battle  of,  ii.,  279 

Ijcscot,  architect  of  the  Louvre, 
ii.,  112 

Le  temps  revient,  motto  on  Lorenzo's 
standard,  i.,  100 

Lewis  11.,  King  of  Hungary,  killed 
at  Moiiacs,  i.,  448 

Iveyva,  Antonio  de,  Spanisli  cum- 
mander  in  Italy,  delends  I*a\  i.i, 
i.,  444;  succeeds  Itourlion  at 
Milan,  4.50  ;  severely  defeats 
the  Freiu'li,  407 

Libra  ry,  Med  ici,f()inideil  by  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae,  i.,  95;  "its  ciiiet 
treasures,  9()-97 

[iilirary,  M.igli.ilu-cchian,  ii..  \\\~ 

Ijiluary,  Marucellian,  ii.,  4t>7 

Library  of  tiic  (Jr.uid  Ducal  j)alace, 
fouiid.ition.  ii.,  411  ;  its  cliiel 
treasures,  441-414 

Library,  the  Natioii.il,  ii.,  441 

Liliro  (Ii  Jifu/ione,  the,  i.,  107 

Liiiacer,  'I'hom.is,  i.,  274 

Lipjii,  Filippo,  origin  and  history, 
i.,  122;  tauglit  l>y  Masic«'io, 
123;  character  of  his  art.  123; 
showed   Masaccio's   discoveries, 


552 


INDEX 


Lippi — continued. 

124  ;  principal  works,  124  ; 
wrongly  given  honour  belonging 
to  Masaccio,  124  ;  death,  124 

Lippi,  Filippino,  i.,  371 

Livornina,  the,  ii.,  347-348 

Loggia  de'  Lanzi  ( Orcagna's 
Loggia),  built,  i.,  27  ;  received 
its  present  name,  ii.,  246 

London,  Treaty  of,  annihilates  the 
independence  of  Tuscany,  ii.,  481 

Longjumeau,  Peace  of,  ii.,  113 

Lorenzo  di  Credi,  i.,  371 

Lorraine,  Cardinal  of  {see  Guise, 
Charles  of) 

Lorraine,  Francis,  Duke  of,  re- 
ceives Tuscany  in  exchange  for 
Lorraine,  ii.,  493  ;  marries 
Maria  TTieresa,  493 ;  becomes 
Francis  II.,  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  496 

Lorraine,  Prince  Charles  of, 
ii.,  450 

Louis  XI.  of  France,  accession, 
i.,  108 ;  crushes  the  nobles,  153 ; 
makes  France  into  a  strong 
kingdom,  153 ;  struggle  with 
Charles,  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
267  ;  foiled  in  his  attempt  to 
gain  the  Netherlands,  258  ; 
death,  262 

Louis  XII.  of  France,  accession, 
i.,  347  ;  drives  Ludovico  Sforza 
from  Milan,  363  ;  captures  and 
imprisons  him,  864  ;  again  in- 
vades Italy,  365 ;  joins  the 
league  against  Venice,  367 ; 
defeats  Venice  at  Agnadello, 
369  ;  wins  battle  of  Ravenna, 
379  ;  again  invades  Italy,  392  ; 
death,  392 

Louis  XIII.  of  France,  accession, 
ii. ,  381  ;  throws  off  his  mother's 
rule,  382  ;  refuses  her  any 
allowance,  383 ;  contest  with 
Cosimo  II.,  385  ;  death,  450 

Louis  XIV.  of  France,  accession, 
ii.,  450  ;  gives  his  cousin 
Marguerite  Louise  in  marriage 
to  Cosimo  of  Tuscany,  451  ; 
principal  events  of  his  reign, 
470  ;  death,  480 

Louise  of  Savoy,  causes  her  son 
Francis  I.  to  disgrace  Charles, 
Duke  of  Bourbon,  i.,  432  ;  made 


Regent  in   her   son's    absence, 
444 ;  executes  Treaty  of  Cambrai 
on  belialf  of  her  son,  407-468 
Louise  de  Vaudemont,  married  to 
Henry  III.  of  France,  ii.,  138  ; 
her     character,     139 ;     attends 
Catherine  de'  Medici  in  her  last 
illness,  159 
Louvre,  palace  of  the,  ii.,  112 
Luca,  della  Robbia  {see  Robbia) 
Luther,  his  "Theses"  against  the 
sale    of  Indulgences,   i. ,    423 ; 
urges    assembly   of   a  General 
Council,    423 ;    his    appeal    to 
the   German   nation,   423 ;    his 
doctrines    condemned    by    the 
Pope,   423 ;    burns   the   Pope's 
bull,  424  ;  death,  ii.,  249 
Lutzen,  battle  of,  ii.,  403 
Lyons,  plot  to  seize,  ii.,  88 

Machiavei.li,  Niccolo,  his  History 
of  Florence,  i.,  210;  his  book 
The  Prince,  391 ;  political  career 
blighted,  391  ;  embassy  to 
Catherine  Sforza,  ii.,  202 

Madonna  del  Gran  Duca,  the,  its 
remarkable  history,  ii.,  854 

Maffei,  Antonio,  i.,  238,  285 

Magalotti,  secretary  of  the  Cimento, 
ii.,  439;  becomes  a  member  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  England, 
440 

Magliabecchian  Library  {see 
Library) 

Mahomet  II.,  captures  Constanti- 
nople, i.,  102-104;  subdues 
Servia,  Bosnia,  Albania,  and 
Greece,  259  ;  captures  Otranto, 
259  ;  death,  262 

Mainardi,  Faustina,  buried  alive 
in  Santa  Croce,  ii.,  412-413 

Majauo,  Benedetto  da,  i.,  267 

Majolica,  collection  of,  now  in 
the  Bargello  museum,  ii.,  603 

Malavolti,  Federigo,  i.,  68 

Malplaquet,  battle  of,  ii.,  470 

Malta,  given  to  the  Knights  of 
St  Jolni  by  Charles  V.,  i.,  431 

Manfredi,  Astorre,  i.,  364 

Mann,  Horace,  British  ambassador 
at  the  court  of  Tuscany,  letters 
of,  ii.,  497 

Mantegna,  i.,  189 

Mantua  {see  Gonzaga) 


INDEX 


553 


MarcianOj  battle  of,  ii.,  262 

Maremma^  agricultural  colonies  in 
the,  ii.,  267 

Marg'aret  of  Austria,  sister  of 
Charles  V.,  executes  Treaty  of 
Camhrai  on  behalf  of  her 
brother,  i.,  468 

Margaret  of  Parma  {see  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Charles  V.,  574) 

Marguerite,  daughter  of  Henry 
II.  of  France,  her  words  about 
her  mother's  character,  ii.,  9; 
troublesome  disposition  as  a 
cliild,  51  ;  marriage  to  Henry 
of  Navarre,  124  ;  her  divorce 
from  him,  350 

Marguerite,  sister  of  Francis  I.  of 
France,  ii.,  37 

Marguerite,  sister  of  Henry  II.  of 
France,  ii.,  52 

Maria  llieresa  of  Austria,  ii.,  493 

Marignano,  battle  of,  i.,  406 

Marignano,  Marquis  of,  ii.,  275 

Married  women,  retention  of 
family  names  by,  i.,  188 

Mars  and  Venus,  picture  of  {see 
Botticelli) 

Marsili,  ii.,  432 

Martin  V,,  Pope,  elected  by 
Council  of  Constance,  i.,  37  ; 
his  autocratic  view  of  the 
Pai)acy,  71  ;  death,  71 

Marucellian  Library  {see  Library) 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  i.,  257-258 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  education, 
ii.,  50  ;  marriage  to  Francis  II. 
of  France,  51-52  ;  disinclination 
for  Stiite  affairs,  75  ;  departs  to 
Scotland,  97;  her  execution, 
154 

Masaccio,  his  work  for  Art,  i.,  55  ; 
leader  of  all  subsequent  painters, 
56  ;  early  death,  57  ;  injustice 
done  to  him,  124-125 

Massacre  on  St  Bartholomew's 
Day  in  Paris,  ii.,  127-135 

Massacre  of  Roman  Catholics  by 
Protestants  in  Ireland,  ii.,  133 

Maurice  of  Savoy,  ii.,  261 

Mausoleum,  the  Medici,  founda- 
tion, ii.,  355  ;  details  of  design, 
356-358  ;  removal  of  bodies  to, 
469-470  ;  provision  for  its  com- 
pletion, 509-510  ;  crypt  of,  514- 
615  ;  transfer  of  cofhns  to  lower 
VOL.   II. 


crvpt,  515  ;    rearrangement  of 
the  coflins,  516-517 

Maximilian  I.,  Emperor,  married 
to  Mai-y  of  Burgundy,  i.,  257  ; 
succeeds  liis  father  as  iOmperor, 
312  ;  protects  Ludovico  Sforaa, 
364  :  death,  416 

Maximilian  II.,  Emperor,  succeeds 
his  father  as  Emperor,  ii.,  290  ; 
gives  his  si.ster  in  marriage  to 
eldest  sou  of  Cosimo  I.,  291  ; 
creates  Tuscany  a  Crand  Duchy, 
309  ;  death,  309 

•Mazarin,  Cardinal,  ii.,  451 

MtdalHst,  The,  picture  of  {see 
Botticelli) 

Medici,  The.  Importance  of  the 
period  covered  ))y  their  liistory, 
i.,  13;  four  cliief  points  from 
whicli  they  are  interesting,  14- 
15  ;  charges  made  against  them, 
16-18 ;  dramatic  ciiaracter  of 
their  history,  18  ;  their  origin, 
19  ;  no  truth  in  the  story  that 
they  were  originally  doctors,  20 ; 
champions  of  the  people  against 
the  nobles,  21  ;  first  banishment 
of  the  family,  67-69  ;  division 
of  bankuig  business  between  the 
two  branches,  107  ;  passion  for 
collecting  objects  of  art,  144- 
145  ;  genius  fjr  pacifying  strife, 
208  ;  jealousy  between  tlie  two 
branches,  311  ;  second  banish- 
ment of  the  family,  319-324  ; 
achievements  during  tlieir  first 
hundred  years,  329-330 ;  the 
two  main  charges  jigainst  them 
examined,  330-332  ;  qualities  l>y 
which  they  rose  to  power  in 
Florence,  331  ;  violent  bias  of 
tlie  accusations  made  against 
them,  332  334  ;  their  return  to 
power,  and  character  of  the 
rule  set  up,  383-384  ;  alteration 
of  the  previous  policy  of  the 
familv  brought  about  bv  (iiulin 
de'  Alcdici,  38(;-;i»7  •  tliird 
banishment  of  tlie  family,  458- 
462;  regain  power,  J7<) ;  i>c<(»Mu» 
Dukes  of  Florence,  478;  become 
(Jrand  Dukes  of  Tuscany, 
ii.,  297;  real  origin  of  (lie 
animosity  against  them,  3(;(»- 
369;  obliteration  of  liieir  name 
2  M 


554 


INDEX 


Medici,  The — continued. 

in  Florence^  371  ;  attacks  upon 
them  by  sword  and  pen,  870- 
372  ;  their  parting  gift  to 
Florence,  500  -  505  ;  lasting 
effect  upon  the  prosperity  of 
Florence  of  their  various  gifts 
to  tliat  city,  505  ;  plunder  of 
their  coffins,  515;  their  tombs, 
516-517 ;  aspects  in  which 
they  showed  greatness,  518-519 
Medici    arms,    changes    in    the, 

i.,  185  {see  also  Palle) 
Medici  Bank,   The,   branches    in 
sixteen    capital    cities,   i.,    64 ; 
closure  of  the,  ii.,  383 
Medici  family,  the  two  branches 
united  by  marriage  of  Giovanni 
delle    Bande    Nere    to    Maria 
Salviati,  ii.,  216 
Medici    Palace,  the  architectural 
importance,  i.,  139  -  141  ;    his- 
torical    importance,     142-143  ; 
importance  as  regards  Learning, 
and    Art,    143-144,   a    museum 
unique    in    Europe,    283 ;    the 
treasures     lost     when     it    was 
sacked,  320-321 
Medici  private  crests,  i.,  185-186 
Medici  villas,   in   Cosimo's   time, 
i.,  107  ;  in  Lorenzo's  time,  290  ; 
the    villa    of    Petraia     added, 
ii.,   362  ;    the   villa   of   Poggio 
Imperiale  added,  375-376 
"  Medicean  stars,"  the,  ii.,  381 
Medicean  wardrobe,  the,  ii.,  605- 

506 
Melancthon,  i.,  480 
Melozzo  da  Forli,  ii.,  187 
Mercato  Nuovo,  the,  ii.,  266 
Mercury,  statue  of  {see  Statue) 
Mexico,  conquest  of,  i.,  431 
Mezaray,    comment    by,    on    the 
character    of    the    contest     in 
France,  ii.,  96 
Michelangelo,  help  given  him  as  a 
boy  by  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
i. ,    284 ;     his    frescoes    in    the 
Sixtine  Chapel,  875  ;  his  tomb 
of  Julius  IL,  377  ;    his  statue 
of  Lorenzo  (Duke  of  Urbino), 
399  ;    assists  in  the  defence  of 
Florence,  473 ;    his  statues   of 
Day    and    Night    in    the    New 
Sacristy,  479 ;   tlie  downfall  of 
Art  attributed  to  him,  373-374 


Michel   de    I'Hopital,    chosen    by 
Catherine    de'    Medici    as    her 
Chancellor,  ii.,  64  ;    assists  to 
draw  up  laws  of  lasting  benefit 
to  France,  111 
Michelini,  Famiano,  ii.,  487 
Michelozzo,  architect  of  the  Medici 
Palace,    i.,    66  ;    employed    by 
Cosimo  to  rebuild  San  Marco, 
117  ;      his     portrait     by     Fra 
Angelico,  117 
Michieli,       Giovanni,      Venetian 

ambassador,  ii.,  130-131 
Milan,    cathedral    of,    begun    by 
Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti,  i.,  25  ; 
the  central  vault  Brunelleschi's 
last  work,  98 
Milan,   Dukes    of,   prevented    by 
Florence  from  becoming  domin- 
ant in  Italy,  i.,  46 
Milton,  his  visit  to  Galileo,  ii.,  407 
Mino  da  F^iesole,  character  of  his 
works,     i.,    126 ;     his    portrait 
busts  of  Piero  and  Giovanni  de' 
Medici,  184 
Mistake  of  a  year  in  the  recorded 
length  of  the  reigns  of  Cosimo  IL 
and  Ferdinand  II. ,  ii.,  389 
Modigliana,  Evangelista  Torricelli 

da  {see  Torricelli). 
Mohacs,  battle  of,  i.,  448 
Moncontour,  battle  of,  ii.,  118 
Montalcino,  annexed  to  Tuscany, 

ii.,  263 
Montecuculli,  ii.,  83 
Montefeltro,    Federigo,    Duke    of 

Urbino,  i.,  189 
Montefeltro,  Guidobaldo,  Duke  of 

Urbino,  i.,  888 
Montemurlo,  battle  of,  ii.,  238 
Montesecco,     Giovanni     Battista, 

i.,  231-234 
Monteverde,  takes  same  place  in 
music  as  taken  250  years  later 
by  ^Vagner,  ii.,  361. 
Montgomery,      Captain     of     the 

Scottish  Guard,  ii.,  53 
Montluc,  Blaise  de,  ii.,  268 
Montmorency,Constable  of  France, 
his  defeat  at  the  battle  of  St 
Quentin,  ii.,  47  ;  superseded  by 
Francis  II.,  76  ;  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Protestants,  106 ;  his 
reconciliation  with  Conde,  107  ; 
killed  at  the  battle  of  St  Denis, 
113 


INDEX 


555 


Montpelier,    its    pacitication,    ii., 

148-149 
Monument  to  Lorenzo  the  Magni- 
ficent still  wanting-,  i.,  30G-.'^07  ; 

suggestion  regarding  it,  30G 
Moors  driven  out  of  Spain,  i.,  307 
Morning   of  the    Renaissance   in 

Art,  i.,  39 
Mortuary  chapel  of  the  Austrian 

Grand  Dukes,  ii.,  515 
Murate,  Le,  convent  of,  ii.,  16-18  ; 

now  a  prison,  20 
Music,   The    Renaissance   in,   ii., 

359-361 

Nanci,  battle  of,  i.,  257 

Nantes,  Revocation  of  Edict  of. 
ii.,470 

Naples,  kingdom  of,  conquered  by 
Spain,  i.,  366 

National  Church  Council  of  France, 
plan  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  to 
assemble  it,  ii.,  96;  principles 
laid  down  for  its  deliberations, 
97 ;  assembles  at  Poissy,  97 ; 
its  constitution,  98  ;  its  failure 
brought  about  by  the  Pope,  98 

Navarre,  Antoine  de  Bourbon, 
Kingof,  suinnionedby  Francis II. 
to  court,  ii.,  89  ;  plot  to  murder 
him,  90-91  ;  promises  to  make 
peace  ^vith  the  Guises,  94  ;  killed 
in  the  First  Religious  "War,  106 

Navarre,  Henry  of  (see  Henry  IV.) 

Navarre,  Jeanne  d'Albret,  Queen 
of  (.tee  Albret) 

Naviglio,  canal  of  the,  ii.,  347 

Navy,  the  Tuscan,  created  by 
Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  267  ;  wins  honour 
at  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  279  ; 
largely  increased  by  Ferdinand 
I.,  348  ;  captures  Bona,  348  ; 
gains  a  great  victory  over  the 
Turki.'ih  fleet,  349  ;  assists  the 
Druses,  385  ;  allowed  by  Cosimo 
III.  to  die  out,  477 

Nemours,  Due  de,  title  of,  given  to 
Giuliano  de'  Medici,  i.,  3!)3 

Nerac,  agreement  of,  ii.,  148 

Nero,  Bernardo  del,  i.,  342 

Neroni,  I)ietisal\i,  liis  treachery 
to  Piero  il  Gottoso,  i.,  152  ;  life 
spared  by  I'iero,  155  ;  ingrati- 
tude, 156;  his  subsequent  attack 
on  Lorenzo,  217 

Netherlands,  war  in  the,  ii.,  297 


"  New  Learning,"  the,  impetus 
given  to  it  by  the  Council  of 
Florence,  i.,  86;  its  effect  in 
regard  to  tlie  Reformatif)n,  87- 
89 ;  steady  growtli  of  its  in- 
fluence, 2-J8-250  ;  results  at  tlie 
end  of  eiglity  years,  419-421 
(xee  a/so  Reformation) 

"  New  Sacristy,"  the,  construction 
of,  i.,  408 ;  tomb  of  Loren/o 
tlie  Magnificent,  306  ;  tomb  of 
Lorenzo  (Duke  of  Urbino),  399  ; 
Michelangelo's  statues  of  J><iy 
and  Sight,  479  ;  used  as  a  place 
of  temporary  sepulture,  ii.,  464 

Xiccolo  Pisano,  i.,  2 

Nice,  truce  agreed  to  at,  by 
Francis  I.  and  Charles  V., 
ii.,  248 

Nicholas  v..  Pope,  elected,  i.,  99  ; 
determines  to  make  Roine  a 
centre  of  .\rt  and  Learning,  9!» ; 
inaugurates  the  first  frescoes  in 
the  Vatican,  117-118  ;  urges  all 
states  to  combine  against  the 
Turks,  100  ;  grief  at  the  fall  of 
Constantinople,  104  ;  deatli,  105 

Niohe  and  her  Children,  statues  of, 
ii.,  341 

Nogarola,  Isotta,  i.,  187 

Nori,  Francesco,  loses  his  life  in 
defending  Lorenzo  the  Magni- 
ficent, i.  235 

Noris,  Cardinal,  ii.,  472 

Novara,  battle  of,  i.,  392 

Novella,  Sta.  Maria,  cliurch  o({sce 
Santa  Maria  Novella) 

Noyon,  Treaty  of,  i.,  416 

Nymwegen,  Peace  of,  ii.,  470 

Olive,  cultivation  of  the,  ii.,  209 
Oliver  Cromwell,  portrait   of  {see 

Portrait) 
Opera,  Italian,  invented  by.Facopo 

Corsi  and  Jacopo  Peri,  ii.,  360  ; 

first  opera  Ihiphiir,  3fi(t  ;  second, 

IJitn/diri'.lM'iO',  crowning.ichieve- 

ment    tlie    opera     Ariadne    by 

Moiiteverde,  361 
Orange,  I'rince  of  (.Vf  Philibert') 
Orcagna,  i.,  29  ;  shrine  by  liim  in 

Or  San  .Micheie,  110  ;  his  Inpriia 

given  tlie  name  of   the  I^>ggin 

de'  Liir/.i,  ii. ,  246 
Ordelafli,  territory  of  the,  seized 

by  Sixtus  I\'.,  ii.,  188 


556 


INDEX 


Orleans,  siege  of,  i.,  49 

Orleans,  Peace  of,  ii.,  107 

Or  San  Micliele,  i.,  42 

Orsi,  the,  their  insurrection, 
ii.,  193-195 

Orsini,  Paolo  Giordano,  Prince  of 
Bracciano,  marries  Isabella  de' 
Medici,  ii.,  274  ;  murders  her, 
814-315  ;  his  contest  with  two 
Popes,  310  ;  death,  316 

Orsini,  Ludovico,  ii.,  315 

Otranto,  captured  by  the  Turks, 
i. ,  259  ;  retaken  from  them,  202 

Oudenarde,  battle  of,  ii.,  470 

Painting  in  oils,  introduction  of, 
i.,  284 

Pageants  organised  by  Lorenzo 
and  Giuliano,  description  of, 
i.,  213-214 

Palatine  Library,  the  {see  Library 
of  the  Grand  Ducal  palace) 

Palazzo  della  Signoria,  its  con- 
struction, i. ,  22  ;  name  changed 
to  Palazzo  Vecchio,  478  ;  added 
to  by  Cosimo  L,  ii.,  247  ;  pre- 
pared for  residence  of  Francis 
and  Joanna,  291-292 

Palazzo  Vecchio  {see  Palazzo  della 
Signoria) 

Paleologus,  Manuel,  Emperor, 
visits  England,  France,  and 
Germany  to  obtain  aid  to  save 
Constantinople,  i.,  33 ;  his 
death,  49 

Paleologus,  John,  Emperor,  visits 
Italy  to  obtain  help  to  save  Con- 
stantinople, i.,  83;  attends  the 
Council  of  Florence,  85  ;  returns 
to  Constantinople,  91  ;  death, 
103  ;  his  portrait,  201 

Paleologus,  Constantine,  Emperor, 
the  last  Emperor  of  the  East, 
i.,  103  ;  his  gallant  defence  of 
Constantinople,  and  death,  104 

Palissy,  his  new  invention  in 
pottery,  ii.,  120-121  ;  rescued 
from  poverty  and  persecution 
by  Catherine  de'  Medici,  121  ; 
employed  by  her  in  the  gardens 
of  the  Tuileries  and  of  Chenon- 
ceaux,  121 

Pallas  and  the  Centaur,  picture  of 
{fee  Botticelli) 

Palle  (or  balls),  the  Medici  arms, 
origin    unknown,    i.,    20;    the 


blue  hall,  when  and  why  added, 
149  ;  number  of  l)alls  a  rough 
guide  to  dates,  185  ;  used  as  a 
party  cry,  237 

Pandects  of  Justinian,  the,  chief 
treasure  of  the  Medici  Library, 
its  history,  i.,  90 

Panic  in  Paris  after  battle  of  St 
Quentin,  ii.,  47 

Papal  supremacy  cast  off  by  the 
Church  of  England,  i.,  480-487 

Parentucelli,  Tommaso  {see 
Nicholas  V.) 

Parma,  attacked  by  Urban  VIII., 
ii.,  423 

Parma,  Duke  of  {see  Farnese) 

Parma,  Elizabeth  of  (.vee  Elizabeth) 

Parting  gift  of  the  Medici  to 
Florence  {see  Gift) 

Passaggio,  the,  idea  taken  from 
Homer's  account  of  Priam's 
palace,  ii.,  292;  peculiar  con- 
struction. 293;  details  of  the 
work,  293-294 

Passerini,  Silvio,  Cardinal,  sent  to 
Florence  by  Leo  X.,  i.,  410; 
again  sent  to  Florence  by 
Clement  VII.,  438  ;  driven  out, 
459-461 

Paul  II.,  Pope,  i.,  153 

Paul  III.,  elected  Pope,  i.,  501  ; 
orders  scheme  to  be  drawn  up 
for  reform  of  the  Church,  501  ; 
policy,  502 ;  brings  about  a 
truce  between  Francis  I.  and 
Charles  V.,  ii.,  248  ;  opposed  by 
Cosimo  I.,  250  ;  death,  253 

Paul  IV.,  elected  Pope,  ii.,  265; 
death,  275 

Paul  v.,  elected  Pope,  ii.,  365  ; 
his  conduct  towards  Galileo,  405 

Pavia,  battle  of,  i.,  445 

Pazzi  Conspiracy,  the,  i.,  229-242 

Pazzi,  Jacopo  de',  i.,  232 

Pazzi,  Francesco  de',  his  treacher- 
ous conduct,  i.,  234;  helps  to 
murder  Giuliano  de'  Medici, 
235  ;  his  execution,  238 

Pazzi,  Renato  de',  i.,  238 

Pazzi,  Guglielmo  de',  i.,  239 

Pearls  given  to  Catherine  de' 
Medici  at  her  marriage,  subse- 
quent history  of,  ii.,  20 

Pedro,  Don,  di  Toledo  {see  Toledo) 

Pendulum,  invention  of  the,  ii.,  377 

Peretti,  Francesco,  ii.,  314 


INDEX 


557 


Peri,  Jacopo,  joint  author  of  the 
first  and  second  Italian  operas, 
ii.,  300 

PerUj  conquest  of,  i.,  481 

I'eruirino,  the  culminating  painter 
of  the  Tuscan  school,  i.,  359; 
sets  up  his  studio  in  Florence, 
3G0 ;  his  chief  characteristics, 
3G0  -  301  ;  examples,  301  ;  his 
masterpiece,  302 

Peruzzi,  the,  \.,  85 

Pescara,  Marquis  of,  captures 
Milan,  i.,  424  ;  commands  part 
of  tlie  Emperor's  army  in  Italy, 
443  ;  death,  449 

rente  Uaiuk,  the,  ii.,  29 

I'etraia,  villa  of,  hought  by 
Ferdinand  1.,  ii.,  302 

Petrarch,  i.,  2 

Petrucci,  Cesare,  his  hold  action, 
i.,  230-237 

Philitiort,  Prince  of  Orange,  suc- 
ceeds to  the  command  of  Bour- 
bon's army,  i.,  453 ;  conducts 
the  siege  of  Florence,  472-475  ; 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Gavinana, 
470 

Philihert,  Emmanuel,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  married  to  the  sister  of 
Henry  II.,  ii.,  52  ;  his  duchy 
restored  to  him  by  the  Treaty  of 
Cateau-C'ambresis,  274 

Philibert  de  I'Orme,  architect  of 
the  Tuileries,  ii.,  112 

Philip,  Archduke,  of  Austria, 
married  to  Joanna  of  Spain, 
i.,  304;   his  deatli,  410 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain_,  marries 
Henry  II.'s  daughter  Elizabeth, 
ii.,  52  ;  his  threatening  attitude 
towards  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
100  ;  his  programme  to  force 
her  to  his  will,  110  ;  its  failure, 
111  ;  sends  a  Spanisli  army 
into  France,  115  ;  wrath  at  tlie 
peace  made  at  Saint-(ierm;iins, 
118  ;  desire  tliat  the  Inquisition 
should  be  establislied  in  France, 
141  ;  intrigues  to  obtain  posses- 
sion of  Poulogne  to  assist  the 
Armada,  154  ;  his  maritime 
power  destroyed,  150  ;  his  four 
marriages,  275  ;  death,  350 

Philip  HI.  of  Spain,  ii.,  38(5 

I'hilip  IV.  of  Spain,  ii.,  404 

Philip  V.  of  Syaiii,  ii..  480 


Philippe  de  Commines,  comment 

of,    on    the    loss     of    valuable 

treasures    in    the    sack    of  the 

Medici  Palace,  i.,  320 
Philosophical  Society  of  the  Grand 

Ducal  palace,  the,  ii.,  437 
Piccolomini,    ..Kneas    Sylvius   {nee 

Pins  II.) 
Pico  della  Mirandola,  i.,  280-281 
Pictures  arranged  so  that  figures 

should  not  turn  their  backs  to 

tiie  throne,  ii.,  498 
Piero   della    Francesca,   discovers 

tlie  laws  of  perspective,  i.,  I(;8  ; 

his  portraits    of  tlie  Duke  and 

Duchess  of  L'rbino,  108 
J'iftra  JJufu,  Royal   Manuiactoiy 

of,  ii.,  358-3.59/J 
I'irtra       Dura       industry,      the, 

ii.,  420-422 
Pietrasanta,  taken  from  Genoa  by 

Florence,  i.,  205  ;  silver  mines 

of,  ii.,  200 
Pink  candles,  story  of  poisoning 

by  means  of,  ii.,  08 
Pinturicciiio,     paintings     in     the 

lil)rarv  of  tlie  Siena  cathedral, 

i.,  108 
I'iombino,  alum  mines  of,  ii.,  2(i(» 
Pirates,  Parbary,  the  (see  Barbary) 
Pisa,    conquest   of,    by    Florence, 

i.,  34 
Pisa,  (.'ouncil  of  {nee  Council) 
Pisa,  University  of  {see  University) 
Pisa,    revival    of,    by   Cosiiiio    I., 

ii.,  200 
Pisa,  conference  at,  under  Fenli- 

nand  II.,  ii.,  453 
Pi.s.i,  Botanical  tJardens  at,  ii.,  250 
Pitti    Palace,    Tiie,    it.s    name    an 

invention     of     modern     times, 

ii.,    253  ;    its    construction    by 

Cosimo  I.,  253-555  ;  picture  in 

the   long  corridor  siio.ving   its 

dimensions  in  Cosimo  I.'s  time, 

255  ;ciilargenieiit  l>y  Cosimo  II., 

375  ;  its  furtiicrcnlartrciiu'nt  bv 

Ferdinand  II..  413-417 
Pitti  (Jallery,  'I'lie,  its  formation, 

ii.,  444-4-i7  ;  given  to  Florence 

for  the  benefit  of  the  public  of 

all  nations,  502 
Pitti,  Luca,  i.,  154-155 
l»ius     II.,    elected    I'ope.    i.,100: 

visits  Florence,  108  ;  death,  153 
Pius  III.,  I'ope.  i.,  300 


558 


INDEX 


Pius  IV.,  Pope,  his  origin,  ii., 
275  ;  creed  called  by  his  name 
drawn  up  by  Council  of  Trent, 

289  ;  death,  295 

Pius  v.,  Pope,  character,  ii., 
295  ;  proceeds  ruthlessly  to 
stamp  out  Protestantism  in 
Italy,  295  ;  creates  Cosimo  I.  a 
Grand  Duke,  297  ;    death,   297 

Plato,  admiration  for  his  philo- 
sophy, i.,  89  ;  lamp  kept  burn- 
ing before  his  bust,  144  ;  annual 
feast  to  commemorate  his  birth, 
216 

Platonic  Academy,  the,  foundation 
of,  i.,  89  ;  its  influence  on 
religion,  89 ;  its  far-reaching 
influence  on  poetry,  281-282 

Pleiade,  the,  ii.,  113 

Plethon,  Gemistos,  i.,  86 

Plunder  of  the  Medici  coffins, 
those  of  Grand  Dukes  specially 
sought  for,  ii.,  300 ;  two  of 
them  undetected,  300  ;  period 
when  the  robbery  took  place, 
515  ;  the  coffins  of  cardinals 
left  um-ifled,  516 

Plurality  of  offices  held  by  the 
higher  clergy,  i.,  409 

Poem  of  The  Statue  and  the 
Bust,  ii.,  362 

Poetry,  fine  quality  of  Lorenzo's, 
i.,  276  ;  power  of  description  of 
nature  shown  therein,  278-279 

Poggio  a  Caiano,  villa  of,  built  by 
Lorenzo    the    Magniflcent,    i., 

290  ;  his  poem  Ambra  in  con- 
nection therewith, 277 ;  enlarged 
by  subsequent  generations,  ii., 
331  ;  frescoes  in  its  great  liall, 
331  ;  family  portraits  collected 
there,  331  ;  death  there  of 
Francis  and  Bianca,  332-334 

Poggio  Imperiale,  villa  of,  built  by 
Cosimo  II.,  ii.,  375  ;  fiivourite 
residence  of  two  generations  of 
the  family,  376  ;  special  interest 
attaching  to  it,  379-380 

Poissy  Council  of  {see  National 
Church  Council  of  France) 

Poland,  Henry  of  France  elected 
King  of,  ii.,  137 

Politian  (Ansrelo  Poliziano).  i., 
279-280  ;  his  portrait  by  Ghir- 
laudajo,  289 


Policy  of  the  throne  refusing 
to  take  a  side  in  religious  con- 
flict not  understood,  ii.,  63- 
66 

Pollajuolo,  Antonio  and  Piero,  i., 
127 

Poltrot  de  Mere',  murder  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise  by,  ii.,  107 

Ponte  Sta.  Trinita,  construction  of, 
ii.,  272 

Ponte  Vecchio,  i.,  27  ;  jewellers' 
shops  on,  ii.,  294 

Pontremoli,  the  private  property 
of  the  Medici,  ii.,  488 

"  Popolano,"  name  taken  by 
Lorenzo  and  Giovanni  of  the 
younger  branch,  i.,  323 

Porto  Ferrajo,  made  by  Cosimo  I. 
the  strongest  naval  station  in 
the  Mediterranean,  ii.,  252 

Portrait  of  Maddalena  de'  Medici, 
its  special  interest,  i.  266 

of  Giuliano  de'  Medici  (Due 

de  Nemours)  by  Raphael,  seen 
bv  Vasari,  i.,  394  ;  copy  of  it  by 
Allori  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  394  ; 
the  original  by  Raphael  lost  for 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years 
now  discovered,  394  ;  date  when 
painted,  395  ;  description  of  it, 
395 

of  Leo   X.   by  Raphael,   i., 

425-426 ;  deception  practised 
regarding  it,  445-446 

of  Clarice    de'    Medici,    its 

special  interest,  i.,  456 

of  Catherine  de'   Medici  at 

Poggio  a  Caiano,  ii.,  35-36 ; 
portrait  of  her  in  the  Uffizi 
Gallery  by  Pourbus,  61 

of  Eleonora  di  Toledo,  de- 
scription, ii.,  287 ;  when  painted, 
287  ;  important  subsequent  his- 
tory, 288 

of  Oliver   Cromwell   by  Sir 

Peter  Lely,  its  history,  ii.,  448 

Portraits  of  the  painters  of  all 
nations,  ii.,  445 

of  the  maids-of-houour,  ii., 

460 

Portrait  busts  by  Mino  da  Fiesole, 

i.,  184 
Prato,  sack  of,  i.,  380-381 
Prince  and  Princess,  titles  of,  ii.. 

413 


INDEX 


559 


Principles   which   became    family 

traditions,  i.,  59 
Printing,    invention    of,    i.,    100; 

Florence  the  last  great  city  to 

adopt  it,  272 
Printed  books  looked  on  with  dis- 
favour by  scholars,  i.,  97 
Problem  long  unsolved  regarding 

the  Medici,  ii.,  3(J6-372 
Progress,  a  royal,  in  the  sixteenth 

century,  ii.,  109 
Prominent   buildings    of    present 

time     which      existed     in     the 

Florence  of  1400,  i.,  27-28 
"  Protestant,"  the  term  first  used, 

i.,  480 
Pulci ,  Luca,  his  poem  of  La  Giostra 

di  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  i.,  159 
Pulci,     Luigi,    his     poem    of    // 

Morfjnntc  Magtiiore,  i.,  280 
Pulci,  Antonia,  i.,  187 

Qualities  by  which  the  Medici 
rose  to  power  in  Florence,  i.,  '-VSl 

(Qualities  required  in  ruling  queens 
of  the  sixteenth  century, 
ii.,  56-57 

Quercia,  Jacopo  della,  i.,  40 

Ramillies,  battle  of,  ii.,  470 
llankc,     his     description    of    the 
cultured  Paganism  of  Leo  X.'s 
court,   i.,    417-418  ;    statement 
as   to    Clement    VII. 's   ability, 
437  ;    opinion  on  the  responsi- 
bility lor  the  St  Bartholomew's 
Day  massacre,  ii.,  133 
Kapbael,    at    work    in    Florence, 
i.,  371-372 ;  summoned  to  Home, 
372  ;      his      masterpiece,      the 
Camera   della    Segnatura,   37<I- 
377  ;  death,  372 
Ratisbon,  Diet  of  (acc  Diet) 
RaAcnna,  battle  of,  i.,  379 
Recitutivo,      original      name      for 

Italian  opera,  ii.,  3G0 
Redi,  Francesco,  ii.,  4G8 
Reformation,  the,  its  seed  sown 
in  C'osimo's  time,  i.,  86-89  ; 
further  growth  in  Lorenzo's 
time,  248 ;  discovery  of  the 
colossal  forgeries,  249  ;  effects 
of  the  discovery,  250  ;  results  of 
eighty  years'  growth  by  Leo  X.'s 
time,    419 ;     knowledge    wlilcii 


had  been  widely  spread,  420 ; 
men  reaiiy  to  fly  to  arms,  420  ; 
the  Medici  the  chief  agents  in 
sowing  and  spreading  the  seed, 
421  ;  the  crisis  brougiit  about  by 
Leo  X.,  422  ;  the  conflagration 
spreading  through  Germany, 
Switzerland,  and  Flanders,  423  ; 
efforts  of  Adrian  VI.  bo  heal 
the  disease,  432-434 ;  Diet  of 
Worms,  431 ;  Diet  of  Speier,  448; 
Diet  of  Augsburg,  480  ;  League 
of  Smalkafden,  480 ;  Diet  of 
Ratisbon,  481  ;  Church  of 
England  repudiates  Papal  supre- 
macy, 486  -  487  ;  the  conflict 
spreads  to  France,  ii.,  62;  all 
Europe  at  war  over  the  religious 
question,  297 

Reiclistadt,  ii.,  474-475 

Reine  Blanche,  La,  ii.,  139 

Religious  Wars  in  France,  the. 
First,  ii.,  105-106  ;  Second,  113  ; 
Third,  115  ;  Fourth,  136  ;  Fifth, 
136  ;  Sixth,  143  ;  Seventh,  151  ; 
Eighth,  152-156 

Removal  of  the  Medici  coflins  from 
the  New  Sacristy  to  the  Mau- 
soleum, ii.,  469-470;  from  the 
upper  to  the  lower  crypt,  515 

Renaissance  in  Art,  the  {see  Art) 

Republic,  Florentine,  the,  con- 
stitution, i.,  22-23;  abolished, 
478 

Responsibility  for  the  massiicre  on 
St  Bartholomew's  Day,  ii.,  133- 
135 

Resuscitation  of  Learning,  the, 
carried  out  just  in  time  to  avoid 
effects  of  Turkish  misrule, 
i.,  271  ;  the  work  of  four  irenera- 
tions  of  the  Medici  family,  271  ; 
its  great  cost,  272-274  ;  could 
not  have  lieen  afforded  by  any 
other  family,  329  ;  greatest  of 
all  the  \vorks  done  by  the 
Medici,  330;  the  final  stage 
completed  by  Ix^o  X.,  412-413 

Rhodes,  capitulation  of,  to  the 
Turks,  i.,  431 

Riario,  (Jirolamo,  author  of  the 
Pazzi  Conspiracy,  i.,  2.30  232; 
origin,  ii.,  186;  character,  186; 
marriage  to  Catlierinc  Sfdrzji. 
185  ;     his    other    attrnipts    on 


5G0 


INDEX 


Riario — contintD'd. 

Lorenzo's  life,  187-188;  death, 

Riaiio,  Ottaviano,  ii.,  209 
lliaiio,  Kattaello,  takes  part  in  the 

I'azzi  Conspii'acy,  i.,   232-2.3;5  ; 

his  life  saved   by    Lorenzo   the 

Magnificent,  240 
Ricasoli,  Pandolfo,  tragedy  of  his 

deatli,  ii.,  412-413  ;  his  strange 

portrait   in    the    Pitti   Gallery, 

413 
Iliccardi  Palace,    the   {see  Medici 

Richard  III.  of  England,  i.,  262 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  supports  Louis 
XIII.  against  his  mother, 
ii.,  383;  brings  war  into  Italy, 
399 

Ridolli,  Piero,  married  to  Lorenzo's 
daughter  Coutessina,  i.,  295  ; 
leads  the  Ottimati,  400 

Ridolfi,  Giovanni,  appointed  Gon- 
faloniere,  i.,  383 

Ridolfi,  Niccolo,  created  a  cardinal 
by  LeoX.,  i.,  406 

Ringhiera,  the,  i.,  27 

Rinuccini,  Ottavio,  writer  of  the 
words  of  the  first  three  Italian 
operas,  ii.,  360-361 

Robbia,  Luca  della,  his  marble 
relief  of  the  Cantoria,  i.,  119  ; 
other  works  in  marble  and 
bronze,  120 ;  works  in  terra- 
cotta, 164-167  ;  death,  167 

Rochelle,  Peace  of,  ii.,  136 

Rome,  captured  by  Florence, 
i.,  36  ;  its  miserable  condition 
in  1443,  95  ;  sack  of,  452-455  ; 
its  ruined  state  in  1528,  466 

Rome,  Church  of,  its  action  in 
the  past  against  injustice  and 
unrighteousness,  i.,  420 

Rosellino,  Antonio  and  Bernardo, 
i.,  126 

Rossi,  Leopetto,  i.,  188 

Rossi,  Luigi,  created  a  cardinal, 
i.,  406  ;  secretary  to  Leo  X.,426 

Rovere,  Francesco  della,  I.,  Duke 
of  Urbino,  accession,  i.,  392 ; 
driven  out  of  his  duchy  by 
Leo  X.,  396 ;  his  efforts  to  re- 
gain it,  397  ;  reinstated  by 
Adrian  VI.  j  430;  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  army  of  the  Holy 


League,  447  ;   makes  no  effort 

to  rescue  Clement  VII.,  454 
Rovere,  Francesco  della,  \l.,  plans 

of  the  Pope  to  seize  his  duchy, 

ii.,  394-395  ;  death,  403 
Rovere,    Giuliano    della    {nee 

Julius  IL) 
Rovere,  Galeotto  della,  i.,  368 
Rovere,  Federigo  della,  ii.,  388 
Royal  Highness,  title  of,  granted 

to    the   Medici    Grand    Dukes, 

ii.,  471 
Rucellai,  Bernardo,  i.,  188 
Rucellai,  Giovanni,  i.,  256 
Rucellai,  Orazio,  ii.,  343 
Ruggieri,  astrologer  to  Catherine 

de'  Medici,  ii.,  77 
Rule  established  by  Lorenzo  the 

Magnificent  autocratic  but  not 

despotic,  i.,  209 
Rupert,    Count   Palatine     of   the 

Rhine,  elected  Emperor,  i.,  33 
Ryswyck,  Peace  of,  ii.,  470 

Saint-Germains,  council  at,  to 
settle  the  religious  discord  {nee 
National  Church  Council) 

Saint-Germains,  Peace  of,  ii.,  118 

Salviati,  Jacopo,  a  strong  friend  of 
Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  i. ,  198 

Salviati,  Francesco,  Archbishop  of 
Pisa,  takes  part  in  the  Pazzi 
Conspiracy,  i.,  231-232  ;  hanged 
by  the  Gonfaloniere  Petrucci, 
237 

Salviati,  Jacopo,  married  to 
Lorenzo's  daughter  Lucrezia, 
i. ,  296  ;  leader  of  the  Frateschi, 
400 

Salviati,  Giovanni,,  created  a  car- 
dinal by  Leo  X.,  i.,  406 

San  Lorenzo,  church  of,  its  founda- 
tion, i.,  53 ;  why  given  this  name, 
53 ;  character  of  its  architecture, 
53  ;  the  Old  Sacristy,  58 ;  the 
New  Sacristy,  408  ;  burial  place 
of  the  Medici,  ii.,  511 ;  relative 
position  of  the  different  places 
of  sepulture,  513-514 

San  Marco,  monastery  of,  rebuilt 
and  endowed  by  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae,  i.,  80-81  ;  its  walls 
decorated  with  frescoes  by  Fra 
Angelico,  115  ;  attacked  by  the 
troops  of  the  Signoria,  347 


INDEX 


561 


San  Martino,  fortress  of  {nee 
Fortress) 

San  Piero  Scheraggio,  chiircli  of^ 
ii.,  29.3 

San  Salvi,  monastery  of,  spared 
from  destruction,  i.,  472 

Santa  Croce,  cliurch  of,  built, 
i.,  2ii  ;  Medici  chapel  in,  2(J0  ; 
result  of  the  burial  of  Micliel- 
angelo  and  Galileo  in  this 
church,  ii.,  408;  Byron's  lines 
regarding  it,  409  ;  the  Inquisi- 
tion established  in  its  cloisters, 
412 

Santa  Croce,  Piazza,  scenes  of 
gorgeous  splendour  therein, 
i.,  1.59  ;  processions  of  the  auto- 
da-fc  therein,  ii.,  412 

Santa  Felicita,  church  of,  ii.,  293 

Santii  Maria  Novella,  church  of, 
built,  i.,  28  ;  Pope  Eugenius  IV'. 
resides  for  eight  years  in  its 
monastery,  79  ;  Ghirlandajo's 
fi-escoes  in,  289  ;  the  Viceroy  of 
Naples  lodged  there  during  his 
stay  in  Florence,  ii.,  24.5  ;  the 
"  Spanish  Chapel,"  how  and 
when  given  that  name,  24.5 

Santa  Trinita,  church  of,  i.,  289 

Santo  Spirito,  church  of,  its  con- 
struction, i.,  66;  families  who 
paid  for  it,  81  ;  destruction  of 
the  former  church  by  fire,  217 

Santo  Stefano,  Order  of,  founda- 
tion, ii.,  278  ;  objects,  278  ; 
shape  of  the  cross,  279  ;  honour 
won  by  the  knights,  279  ;  end 
of  the  order,  279 

Sarto,  Andrea  del,  i.,  371  ;  his 
portrait  of  Clement  VII.,  486  ; 
his  copy  of  Ilaphael's  portrait  of 
Leo  X.,  44.5-446;  his  fresco  at 
San  Salvi,  472 

Sarzana,  adtled  to  Florentine  terri- 
tory by  Piero  il  Gottoso,  i.,  157  ; 
taken  from  Florence  in  the  war 
with  the  Pope,  26.5  ;  recovered 
by  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
26.5  ;  captured  by  Charles  \'I1I., 
316 

Saturn,  discovery  of  the  rings  of 
the  planet,  ii.,  40.5 

Savonarola,  first  preaching  in 
Florence,  i.,  268;  recalled 
thither   by    Lorenzo    the   Mag- 


nificent, 260  ;  elected  prior  of 
San  Marco,  269  ;  visit  to  Lorenzo 
on  tiie  hitter's  death-bed,  292- 
29.5  ;  obtiiins  chief  power  in 
Florence,  343 ;  efforts  to  put 
down  luxury,  344-.'U.5  ;  urges  a 
reformation  of  the  Churcli,  34.5- 
346  ;  einnity  of  Pope  Alexander 
VI.  against  him,  346;  imprisoned 
by  the  Signoria,  347  ;  successive 
trials  and  torture,  340-349  ;  liis 
execution,  3.50 

Savoy,  conquered  by  France, 
i.,  50.5 

Schism,  the  great,  i.,  26:  two 
rival  Popes  increased  to  three, 
.35  ;  the  schism  ended,  37 

Schloss  Amras,  ii.,  396 

Science,  Florence  leading  tlie  way 
in,  ii.,  380  ;  further  step  in  this 
leadership,  430 

Sculpture  throughout  Middle  Ages 
only  an  adjunct  to  arciiitectitre, 
i.,  110;  isolated  statues  begun 
by  Donatello,  110-111;  first 
nude  statue.  111  ;  principle 
enunciated  that  form  nuisl  ex- 
press spirit,  113;  school  for 
sculpture  founded  by  Ijt)renzo 
the  .Magnificent,  203-281 

Second  Religious  War  in  France, 
ii.,  113 

Semper,  motto  adopted  b\-  tlie 
Medici,  i.,  186 

Semplici,  Giardino  liotannico  de', 
at  Florence,  ii.,  256 

Sesia,  battle  of  the,  i.,  443 

Settimani,  Francesco,  bis  descrip- 
tion of  the  layingthc  founchition- 
stone  of  the  Medici  mausoleum, 
ii.,  35.5-356 

Seventh  Religious  War  in  l''rance, 
ii.,  151 

Sforza,  Francesco,  visit  to  I'loreiice, 
i.,  79  ;  becomes  Uuke  of  Milan, 
98 ;  becomes  Florence's  ally, 
99;  death,  153 

Sforza,  Galeazzo,  becomes  Duke  of 
Milan,  i.,  153  ;  visit  to  Florence, 
217  ;  retiiuie.  218  ;  speedi  about 
the  treasures  he  s;nv  in  the 
Medici  Palace,  218;  death, 
229 

Sforza,  (iian  (lale.izzo,  succeeds  liis 
father,  i.,  258;  kept  in  subjec- 


562 


INDEX 


Sforza — confinupd. 

tion  by  his  uncle  Ludovico,  312  ; 

death,  315 
Sforza,    Ludovico    ("II    Moro"), 

usurps    the    power    in    Milan, 

i.,  312 ;    invites   Charles   VIII. 

into  Italy,  313  ;  becomes  Duke 

of  Milan,  315  ;     driven  out  by 

Louis  XII.,  363  ;  taken  prisoner 

and  confined  at  Loches,  3G4 
Sforza,  Ippolita,  marriage,  i.,  217  ; 

her  attainments,  ii.,  182 
Sforza,   Maximilian  (son    of    "II 

Moro"),  i.,  406 
Sforza,    Francesco    (son    of    "II 

Moro"),  i.,  468 
Shahjehan,     Emperor     of    India, 

ii.,  431-432 
Siege  of  Florence,  i.,  472-476 
Siena,  conquest  of,  by  Cosimo  I. 

and   incorporation  in  Tuscany, 

ii.,  261-264 
Sigismund,     Emperor,     summons 

the  Council  of  Constance,  i.,  36  ; 

summons  the  Council  of  Bale, 

71  ;  death,  82 
Signoria,  the,  governing   body  of 

the  F'lorentine  Republic,  i.,  22  ; 

its  composition,  22-23 ;  abolished, 

478 
Silk  trade,  revived  by  Cosimo  I., 

ii.,  266 
Simonetta  Cattaneo,   her  part  in 

Giuliano's  tournament,  i.,  223- 

227  ;  death,  229 
Siries,  Luigi,  beautiful  pietra  dura 

work  done  by  him,  ii.,  422 
Sixth  Religious   War  in   France, 

ii.,  143 
Sixtine  Chapel,  the,  ii.,  187 
Sixtus  IV.,  elected  Pope,  i.,  218  ; 

character,  230  ;  attempt  to  seize 

Florence,    230-242 ;    war    with 

Florence,  246-253 ;  keeps  Italy 

in   a  state  of  war,  259  ;  \\orks 

for  the  improvement  of  Rome, 

ii.,     187 ;     treatment     of    the 

Colonna,  190  ;  death,  190 
Sixtus  v.,  elected  Pope,  ii.,  316  ; 

vengeance  against  Orsini,  316  ; 

oppo!~ed  by  Ferdinand  do'  M  edici, 

339-340  ;  death,  350 
Sraalkalden,  League  of,  i.,  480 
Soderini,  Tommaso,  i.,  252 
Soderini,    Niccolo,   his   treachery 


towards  Piero  il  Gottoso, 
i.,  152;  life  .spared  by  Piero, 
155  ;  ingratitude,  156 

Soderini,  Piero,  elected  permanent 
Gonfaloniere,  i.,  362 ;  driven 
out  of  Florence,  382  ;  given  an 
asylum  in  Rome  by  Leo  X., 
384 

Solyman,  Turkish  Sultan,  retreats 
from  Hungary  before  Charles 
v.,  i.,  481;  makes  an  alliance 
with  Francis  I.  of  France,  504 

Soranzo,  Giacomo,  Venetian  am- 
bassador, his  report  of  the 
behaviour  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici  after  the  battle  of  St 
Quentin,  ii.,  48 

Spain,  unification  of,  i.,  258  ;  the 
Moors  finally  driven  out  of 
Spain,  307 

"  Spanish  Chapel,"  the  {see  Santa 
Maria  Novella) 

Spanish  generals  superior  to  the 
French,  i.,  443 

Speier,  Diet  of  {see  Diet) 

Spi'ing,  picture  of  {see  Botticelli) 

St  Bartholomew's  Day,  massacre 
on  {see  Massacre) 

St  Denis,  battle  of,  ii.,  113 

St  George,  statue  of,  by  Donatello, 
i..  Ill 

St  Peter's,  present  church  of,  at 
Rome,  begun  by  Pope  Julius  II. , 
i.,  377-378 ;  drain  on  the  re- 
sources of  the  Papacy  caused 
by  it,  422  ;  the  dome  slightly 
smallerthan  that  of  the  cathedral 
of  Florence,  62 

St  Quentin,  battle  of,  ii.,  47 

Standard  borne  by  Lorenzo  at  his 
tournament,  i.,  160 

Standing  army,  the  important 
change  it  wrought  in  war, 
i.,  313-314  ;  superior  strength, 
317  ;  first  proof  thereof,  340-341 

"State.-;  of  the  Church,"  the, 
created  by  Pope  Julius  II.,  i.,  367 

Statuary,  collection  of,  now  in  the 
Bargello  museum,  ii.,  502 

Statue  and  the  Bust,  poem  of  the, 
ii.,362 

Statue  of  Judith  by  Donatello, 
inscription  carved  on  the  base 
of,  by  the  Signoria,  i.,  322 

of  Lorenzo  (Duke  of  Urbino), 


INDEX 


563 


Statue  of  Loronzo — rontinued. 
by     Michelaiigeloj     niisleadiug 
idea  given  by  it,  i.,  3*JD 

Statues  by  Gian  da  liologua  :  of 
Mercury,  ii.,  319  ;  of  The  Rape 
of  the  Saliines,  319  ;  of  Joanna 
of  Austria  as  Abundance,  319  ; 
of  The  Uenius  of  the  Medici, 
364;  of  Cosimo  I.,  362;  of 
Ferdinand  I.,  362-363 

Stefano  da  liagnone,  i.,  233 

Story  that  the  Medici  were  origin- 
ally doctorSj  no  foundation  for, 
i.,  20 

Strange  characteristics  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century  in  France,  ii.,  55 

Strozzi,  Filippo,  tlie  elder,  begins 
building  the  Strozzi  Palace, 
i.,  267 

Strozzi,  Filippo,  the  younger,  his 
marriage  to  Clarice  de'  Medici, 
i.,  368;  accompanies  J^orenzo 
de'  Medici  to  France,  397 ;  his 
life  nearly  sacrificed  by  Clement 
VII.,  458  ;  vacillating  conduct, 
462  ;  lends  the  money  for  the 
construction  of  the  Fortezza, 
477  ;  his  delight  at  Lorenzino's 
act,  508  ;  lielps  to  instal  Cosimo 
as  head  of  the  State,  ii.,  236  ; 
heads  the  revolt  against  him, 
238  ;  deatli,  240 

Strozzi,  I'alla,  exile  of,  i.,  74  ;  his 
portrait  l>y  Ghirlandajo,  289 

Strozzi,  Marietta  Palla,  i.,  214-215 

Strozzi,  Piero,  marries  Laudomia 
de'  Medici,  i.,  508  ;  commands 
the  main  portion  of  the  army  of 
tlie  fuoruaciti,  ii.,  238;  com- 
mands the  forces  of  Siena,  2()2  ; 
killed  at  Thionville,  273  ;  tri- 
bute to  his  cliaracter  by  his 
enemy,  Cosimo  I.,  273 

Strozzi,  Roberto,  marries  Madda- 
leua  de'  Medici,  i.,  508 

Strozzi  Palace,  the,  begun,  i.,  267  ; 
first  occupied,  457  ;  confiscated, 
ii.,  241 

Struggle  in  France,  terrible  char- 
acter of  the,  ii.,  115-116 

Sully,  Duke  of,  attempts  to  pacify 
storms  in  the  royal  household, 
ii.,352 

Supremacy  of  the  I'ope  repu<iiated 


by  the  Church  of  Englarul, 
i.,  487 

Suriano,  Antonio,  Venetian  am- 
bassador at  Rome,  his  report  as 
to  tlie  underlying  motive  of  all 
Clement  \'II.'s  action,  i.,  489- 
492 

Sustermans,  leading  portrait  pain- 
ter in  the  time  of  Cosimo  II. 
and  Ferdinand  II.,  ii.,  373 

Tacca,  Pietro,  chief  pupil  of  Gian 
da  Bologna,  ii.,  363;  finishes 
the  stiitue  of  Ferdinand  I.,  363  ; 
his  statue  over  the  tomb  of 
Cosimo  II.,  388 

Taj,  the,  at  Agra,  ii.,  430-432 

Tamerlane  {nee  Timour) 

Tapestry  Manufactory  at  Florence, 
the,  ii.,  269-271 

Tapestries,  now  in  the  Galleria 
degli  Arazzi,  ii.,  271  ;  given  to 
Florence  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public  of  all  nations,  503 

Taste,  unerring,  in  Art,  possessed 
by  the  Medici,  i.,  282 

Tavainies,  Mare'chal,  iiis  proposed 
metliod  for  ending  tlie  influence 
of  Diane  de  Poictiers,  ii.,  41 

Telescope,  invention  of  the,  ii.,  379 

"  The  house  goes  with  the  State," 
words  of  Lorenzo  the  Magni- 
ficent, i.,  307 

Thermometer,  invention  of  the, 
ii.,  379,439 

Third  Religious  War  in  France, 
ii.,  115-118 

Thirtv  Years'  War,  begun,  ii.,  385  ; 
ended,  425 

Throne  of  Tuscany  given  to  Maria 
'Hieresa,  ii.,  ■Ji)2-493 

Timour,  shatters  the  power  of  the 
Ottoman  Turks,  i.,  34 

Titian,  i.,  371  ;  character  of  liis 
portraits,  504  :  liis  portrait  of 
Ippolito  de'  Medici,  504  ;  his 
portrait  of  Ciio\aiini  delle  Hande 
Nere,  ii.,  220;  his  portrait  of 
Hianca  Capcllo,  323 

T«dedo,  Don  Pedro  di,  Viceroy  of 
Na[des,  ii.,  244;  comes  to 
Florence  for  the  marriage  of 
his  daughter  to  Cosimo,  245; 
death,  2t;i 

Tolerance   in  religion  not  under- 


56i> 


INDEX 


Tolerance — continued. 

stood  by  the  men  of  the  sixteenth 
ci'iituiy,  ii.,  140 
Tomb  of  Giovanni  and  Piero,  by 

VeiTOCchio,  i.,  l;30  and  184 
Tomb   of  Cosimo    Pater    Patriae, 
peculiar  character   of,    i.,   132- 
134 
Tombs     in     the     New     Sacristy, 
examination  of,  in  1875,  i.,  511- 
512 
Tombs  in  the  Medici  Mausoleum, 

arrangement  of,  ii.,  51G-517 
Tornabuoni,  former  name  Torna- 

quinci,  i.,  187 
Torre  del  Gallo,  the,  ii.,  380 
Torricelli,  Evangelista,  da  Modig- 

liana,  ii.,  437 
Tournament  of  1469,  i.,  157-100 
Tournament  of  1475,  i.,  222-223 
Tournelles,  Les,  palace  of,  ii.,  29 
Tragedies,    Medicean,    stories    of 

whence  originated,  ii.,  369-372 
Traversari,  Ambrogio,  i.,  64 
Treasure-vault,  the  Medicean,  its 
secret   lock,   ii.,  361  ;    amount 
of    treasure  shown   therein  to 
Bernardo  Buonarmoti,  362 
Trent,  Council  of  (see  Council) 
Triangular  duel  between  Francis  I . , 
Charles  V.,  and  Henry  VIII., 
i.,  440 
Tribolo,  assists  in  laying  out  the 

Boboli  Gardens,  ii.,  256 
Tribuna,  room  called  the,  in  the 
Uffizi      Gallery,      constructed, 
ii.,  353 
Troyes,  Treaty  of,  i.,  49 
Tuileries,  palace  of  the,  ii.,  112 
Tunis,    capital    of    the    Barbary 
pirates,  capture  of,  by  Charles 
v.,  i.,  502 
Turenne,  victories  of,  ii.,  470 
Turkish  fleet  totally  defeated  by 

the  Tuscan  fleet,  ii.,  349 
Turning-points   in   the   course  of 
the  Medici :  first,  i.,  310 ;  second, 
389 ;      third,      478 ;      fourth, 
ii.,  236 
Tuscan    language,   the,   advance- 
ment in  the  position  held  by  it 
created  by  the  writings  of  Lor- 
enzo the  Magnificent,  i.,  276 
Tuscany  {see  Florence) 
Two    religions     in    France,    the 


jn-inciple    of,    declared    by    the 
Parisians  impossible,  ii.,  117 
Type,  Italic,  Roman,  and  Gothic^ 
i.,  272 

Ubkhti,  Farinata  degli^  i.,  22 
Uccello,  Paolo,  i.,  168 
UfRzi  colonnade,  statues   in   the, 
i.,    8;     promenades    there    in 
masks  and  dominos,  ii.,  490 
Uffizi  Gallery,  the,  its  formation 
begun,    ii.,    320 ;    the    Tribuna 
and   other   rooms   added,   353 ; 
the   gallery   nearly   trebled    in 
size  and  the  principal  art  trea- 
sures   of   the    family   collected 
there,     444  -  447  ;      given     to 
Florence  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public  of  all  nations,  502 
Uliva,ii.,  437 

University   of    Pisa,   founded    by 
Lorenzo      the       Magnificent, 
i.,      273  ;      re-established      by 
Cosimo  I.,  ii. ,  266 
Urban  VII.,  Pope,  ii.,  350 
Urban      VIII.,      elected      Pope, 
ii.,  394;    claims    Urbino,   395; 
seizes    upon    that    state,   403  ; 
enmity  in  consequence  against 
the  Medici,  404 ;  his  persecution 
of  Galileo,  405-407  ;    exercises 
his  enmity  against  Ferdinand  II. 
by  working  the  ruin  of  Tuscany, 
411-413  ;    renders  efliciency  of 
administration  impossible,  422- 
424  ;  death,  424 
Urbino,     Duchy    of,     wrongfully 
seized  by  Leo  X.  and  given  to 
his  nephew   Lorenzo,    i.,   396  ; 
restored  to  the  riglitful  Duke  by 
Adrian   VI.,  430  ;    loss   of,  by 
Ferdinand  II.  and  Vittoria  della 
Rovere,  ii.,  394-396  and  403-404 
Urbino    pictures    added     to    the 

Medici  collection,   ii.,  410 
Urbino-ware,  collection  of,  now  in 

the  Bargello  museum,  ii.,  503 
Utrecht,    Congress    of,   ii.,   478 ; 

Peace  of,  480 
Uzzano,  Niccolo   da,  opposes   the 
plans     of    the     nobles    against 
Cosimo  Pater    Patriae,  i.,    65  ; 
character,  67  ;    death,  67 

Vaila,  battle  of  {see  Agnadello) 


INDEX 


565 


Val  di  Chiana,  drainage  of  the, 
ii.,346 

Valdes,  Protestant  reformer, 
ii.,  295 

Valla,  Lorenzo,  the  first  to  show 
that  the  so-called  "  Donation  of 
Constantine "  was  a  forgery, 
i.,  249 

Valori,  Baccio,  acts  for  tlie  Pope 
in  regard  to  the  capitulation  of 
Florence,  i.,  47C ;  made  tem- 
porary governor  of  tlic  city, 
477  ;  one  of  the  four  cliief 
senators  who  accepted  Cosimo 
as  head  of  the  State,  ii.,  236  ; 
his  revolt  and  death,  237- 
240 

Vasari,  Giorgio,  his  letter  in  regard 
to  Catherine  de'  Medici  as  a 
girl,  ii.,  23 ;  autlior  of  the 
Lives  of  the  Paintn:\-,  259 ;  his 
frescoes  decorating  tlie  rooms  of 
the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  260  ;  his 
words  about  Bronzino's  portraits 
of  Cosinio's  family,  260,  con- 
structs the  "  Passaggio,"  292- 
294  :  death,  309 

Vases  belonging  to  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  description  of  them 
by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  i.,  321 

Vatican,  commencement  of  tlie 
frescoes  in  the,  i.,  117-118 

Vatican  Library,  the,  founded, 
ii.,  187 

\'audemont,  Louise  de,  wife  of 
Henry  III.  of  France,  ii.,  138; 
her  character,  139 ;  attends 
Catherine  de'  Medici  in  her  last 
illness,  159 

Veneziano,  Domenico,  i.,  82 

Venice,  flourishing  condition  at 
the  beginning  of  tlie  fiftcoiith 
century,  i.,  88;  her  dccliiie 
begun  through  the  fall  of  (nn- 
stantinople,  105  ;  commence- 
ment of  the  Venetian  school  in 
art,  189  ;  her  power  crushed  at 
the  battle  of  Agnadello,  369 

Venice  and  Florence,  contrast 
between  (see  Florence) 

Venus  de'  Medici,  the,  statue 
of,  ii. ,  341 

Verrocchio,  chief  jmpil  of  Dona- 
tello,  i.,  284  ;  principal  remain- 
ing works,  285  ;  his  e(iuestrian 


statue   of   Colleoni   at    \'eiiice, 

285;  death,  286 
Vospasiano  da  liisticci,  i.,  281 
Vespucci,    Amerigo,    liis    jxirtrait 

by  Ghirlandajo,  i.,  289 
Vespucci,  Marco,  i.,  223 
Vienna,  Treaty  of,  finally  dispose^! 

of  Tuscany,  ii.,  493 
Villa,    Medici,    the,    at    Fiesole, 

i.,232 
V^illa,  Medici,  the,  at  Rome,  built 

by  Ferdinand   I.,   ii.,   341  ;   its 

art  treasures  gradually  removed 

to  Florence,  3.53 
\'isconti,  Giaii  (ialcazzo,  Duke  of 

Milan,    his    conquests,    i.     25  ; 

resisted  by  Florence,  25  ;  death, 

34 
Visconti,  Filippo,  Duke  of  Milan, 

attacks  Florence,  i.,  46;  again 

a  second  time,  75  ;  a  third  time, 

82  ;  a  fourth  time.  97  ;  death,  98 
Visconti,    Biaiica    Maria,    marries 

Francesco   Sforza,    i.,    98;    her 

character,  ii.,  181 
Vision    of    the    future    kings    of 

France,  ii. ,  76-78 
Vitelli,  Paolo,  i.,  364 
Vitelli,  Alcssandro,  ii.,  2.38 
Viviani,  (ialileo's  pupil,  ii.,  4.37 
Voltaire,   his  statement    that    tlie 

Medici  had  a  just  title  to  power, 

i.,  331 
Volterra,   sack    of,    i.,    219-220; 

captured  by  the  Imperial  armv, 

475 

Wachtknoo.vk,    General,    swears 

allegiance    to    the   last    .Medici 

(irand  Duke,  ii.,  494 
\\'alleM>tein,  ii.,  403 
VVar    of    the    Roses    in     KiiL'laiid 

begun,  i.,  108;  oixled,  262 
^Var   of  the   Spanish   succession, 

ii.,  470 
\\'ealth   and    energ}'   devofed    by 

four  generations  of  the  Medici 

to  the  cjiuse  of  I>earning,  strange 

result  of,  i.,  421 
WeiK'elaus,     Kmperor,     dc|>oscd, 

i.,  32;  death,  ;{8 
Will  of  Anna  .Maria  Ludovica  de' 

Medici,  ii.,  .'iOM-.'ilO 
^\'illiam.     Klectnr     Palatine     (>*•« 

Klector  I'alatino) 


566 


INDEX 


Window  of  the  Louvre,  eri-oncous 
tablet  placed  uporij  ii. ,  129 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  created  a 
cardinal  by  Leo  X.^  i.,  406; 
endeavours  to  obtain  election  as 
Pope,  427  ;  defeated  at  the 
election  of  1521,  428 ;  again 
defeated  in  1523,  438 

Wreath  placed  over  the  tomb  of 
Ferdinand  L,  ii.,  366 


Wrestlers,  tlie,  statue  of,  ii.,  341 

Ybiarte,  his  statement  as  to  the 
qualities  to  which  the  Medici 
owed  their  success,  ii.,  518-519 

Yiiste,  retirement  of  Charles  V. 
to,  ii.,  264 

Zknith  of  the  Renaissance,  i.,  370  ; 
chief  painters  of  the,  371 


MEDICI 


{Including    Wives  of  Medici) 


ALESSANDRo("The  Moor"), origin, 
i.,  439  ;  made  Duke  of  Florence, 
478  ;  character,  497  ;  murders 
Ippolito,  503  ;  marriage,  505  ; 
assassination,  50(j ;  burial,  508  ; 
opening  of  the  tomb,  511-512 

Alfonsina  Orsini,  wife  of  Pietro 
the  Unfortunate,  marriage, 
i.,  2G7;  character,  310;  death, 
ii.,  12 

Anna,  daughter  of  Francis  I., 
ii.,  321 

Anna,  daughter  of  Cosinio  II., 
ii.,  422 

Anna  Maria  Ludovica,  daughter  of 
Cosimo  III.,  birth,  ii.,  45G ; 
marriage,  471  ;  decreed  the  suc- 
cessor of  her  brother  as  Grand 
Duchess,  479  ;  returns  to  Flor- 
ence, 480  ;  conducts  the  rule  of 
the  State,  483  ;  hard  position, 
490  -  498  ;  life  in  retirement, 
498 ;  charities,  499  ;  exertions  to 
complete  the  mausoleum,  500  ; 
gift  to  Florence,  500-504  ;  name 
almost  unknown,  505  ;  genea- 
logical tree  drawn  up  for  licr, 
507  ;  death,  507  ;  will,  508-509  ; 
funeral,  510 

Anne  of  Saxe  Lauenburg,  wife  of 
Giovanni  Gastone,  character, 
ii.,  473-474;  refuses  to  leave 
Reichstiidt,  475-476 

Averardo,  father  of  Giovanni  di 
liicci,  i.,  1!) 

Averardo,  cousin  of  Cosimo  I'ater 
Patriae,  i.,  08 


of     V 


liiANCA,    daughter 

Gottoso,  i.,  188 
Bianca   Capello,    second 

Francis     I.,     Ijirtli, 


wife 
.,     3i 


50/ 


character,  323;  first  marriage, 
323-326  ;  second  marriage,  :VH\- 
327  ;  called  a  witch,  :\in  ;  iiatred 
felt  for  her  by  Ferdinand,  329  ; 
her  efforts  to  reconcile  Francis 
and  Ferdinand,  3.30  ;  effects  a 
reconciliation,  332  ;  death,  333- 
334  ;  vilification  of  her  memory, 
335-337 

C'AMii.r,A  Martei.li,  second  wife  of 
(osimo  I.,  ii.,  299;  immured 
in  a  convent,  307 

Carlo,  son  of  Ferdinand  I.,  created 
a  cardinal,  ii.,  387  ;  death,  4.54 

Caterina,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  1., 
ii.,  380-387 

Catherine  Sfonca,  wife  of  Giovainii 
di  Pier  Francesco,  birth, 
ii.,  180:  e<iucation,  181-183; 
visit  to  Florence,  183-18  t  ;  first 
marriage,  184-185;  life  in  Home, 
180-188;  visit  to  Forli  and 
\'enice,  188-189 ;  seizes  ciistle 
of  St  Angelo,  191  ;  life  at 
Forli,  191-192;  imprisoned  by 
the  Orsi,  193  ;  her  victory,  194  ; 
second  marriage,  195  ;  difficult 
position,  19(5 ;  veng&mce  on 
account  of  her  second  husband's 
murder,  197-198 ;  measures  to 
relieve  her  subject.*,  199  ;  tliird 
marriage,  199;  offends  tlie  Pope, 

200  ;  left  a  third  time  a  widow, 

201  ;  dangers  surrounding  her, 
201  ;  receives  -Machiavelli's  em- 
bassy, 202  ;  French  and  Pajwl 
armies  sent  to  attack  lier,  2(l3  ; 
lier  military  preparations,  204  ; 
her  defence  of  Forli,  204-200; 
conveyed  a  prisoner  to  Kome, 
207  ;  coiibigned  to  the  dungeooa 


568 


INDEX 


Catherine  Sforza — continued. 
of  St  Angelo,  207  ;  liberated, 
208  ;  reception  in  Florence,  209  ; 
protects  her  son  against  the 
designs  of  his  uncle,  210  ;  con- 
test with  the  latter  over  tlie 
villa  of  Castello,  210-211  ;  deatli, 
212 

Catherine  de'  Medici,  birth,  ii.,  12 ; 
left  an  orphan,  12-13  ;  taken  to 
Rome  as  a  baby,  13  ;  sent  back 
to  Florence,  14  ;  sent  a  prisoner 
to  the  Murate  Convent,  15-16  ; 
episode  of  her  removal  thence, 
18-20;  recalled  to  Rome,  21; 
visits  Florence,  22 ;  Vasari's 
letter  as  to  her  character,  23  ; 
marriage,  24-27  ;  new  surround- 
ings, 28-30 ;  isolated  condition, 
31  ;  prejudice  of  the  people 
against  her  upon  the  Dauphin's 
death,  32-33 ;  neglected  by  her 
husband,  35  ;  her  portrait,  35- 
36 ;  proposal  for  her  divorce, 
37;  her  long  trial,  38-46; 
ability  in  the  panic  after  the 
battle  of  St  Quentin,  47-48 ; 
education  of  her  children,  49-50 ; 
grief  upon  her  husband's  death, 
54 ;  character  at  forty,  61  ; 
power  of  self-control,  8-10; 
other  traits,  11  ;  difficult  task, 
63  ;  policy  adopted  by  her,  64- 
66  ;  wholesale  stories  of  poison, 
67-70 ;  her  letter-writing,  71- 
72  ;  fondness  for  hunting,  72  ; 
endurance  and  courage,  73 ; 
agreeable  manners,  73  ;  position 
during  the  rule  of  the  Guises, 
75-76  ;  vision  at  Chaumont,  77  ; 
her  endeavours  to  stop  the 
persecution  of  Protestants,  80  ; 
charge  against  her  in  regard  to 
the  executions  at  Amboise,  84- 
87  ;  saves  Navarre's  life,  90-91  ; 
saves  Conde's  life,  92-94  ;  her 
first  Edict,  95 ;  summons  a 
National  Church  Council,  96- 
98  ;  summons  a  second  confer- 
ence, 99 ;  her  immense  diffi- 
culties, 99  - 101  ;  summons  a 
third  conference,  102  ;  her 
"Edict  of  January,"  103;  forces 
the  Purlement  to  publish  it,  104 ; 
carried  off  as  a  prisoner  by  the 


Duke  of  Guise,  106 ;  forces 
Montmorency  and  Conde'  to 
make  peace,  107  ;  her  Edict 
of  Amboise,  107  ;  drives  the 
English  from  France,  108-109  ; 
tour  through  France,  109-110  ; 
meeting  with  Alva  at  Bayonne, 
110-111 ;  legislative  enactments, 
111  ;  begins  building  the  Tui- 
leries,  112  ;  Correr's  words  as 
to  the  benefit  to  France  of  her 
attitude,  114 ;  fury  of  both 
parties,  116-117  ;  arranges  the 
Peace  of  Saint-Germains,  118  ; 
abused  by  both  sides  in  conse- 
quence, 119  ;  her  success,  120  ; 
marriage  of  her  son  Charles, 
121  ;  of  her  daughter  Mar- 
guerite, 124 ;  action  on  Coligny's 
being  wounded,  126  ;  charge  of 
responsibility  for  the  massacre 
in  Paris,  128-135  ;  arranges  the 
Peace  of  Beaulieu,  139  ;  theory 
of  a  change  in  her  attitude 
refuted,  140 ;  her  policy  in 
advance  of  her  age,  140  ;  pro- 
hibits the  Inquisition  in  France, 

141  ;  protects  Carnesecchi,  141- 

142  ;  appearance  at  sixty,  143- 
144  ;  tolerance  of  jokes  against 
herself,  145  ;  journeys  to  create 
peace,  146-147  ;  her  success  at 
Nerac,  148 ;  letters  on  her 
journeys,  149-151  ;  brings  about 
the  Peace  of  Fleix,  151  ;  her 
depression,  152  ;  removes  from 
the  Louvre,  153 ;  journey  to 
Cognac,  153-154  ;  prevents  her 
son  from  murdei'ing  Guise,  155  ; 
besieged  in  the  Louvre,  155  ; 
makes  her  way  tlii-ough  the 
barricaded  streets  of  Paris,  1 56  ; 
arranges  a  peace  at  Chartres, 
156 ;  removes  to  Blois  in  a 
dying  condition,  157  ;  tells  her 
son  he  will  repent  the  murder 
of  Guise,  158  ;  deatli,  158-159  ; 
monument  in  St  Denis,  1 59  ; 
summary  of  her  character  and 
work,  159-164 

Christine  of  Lorraine,  wife  of 
F'erdinand  L,  birth,  ii.,  109; 
brought  up  by  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  342  ;  nurses  her  in  her 
last  illness,  343  ;  leaves  France, 


INDEX 


569 


Christine  of  Lorraine — continued. 
343  ;  marriage,  344  ;  character 
and  good  social  influence,  344- 
345  ;  made  Regent  of  Tuscany, 
388 ;  an  easy  prey  to  the 
ecclesiastics,  31)2  ;  allows  l.'rbino 
to  he  rohhed  from  lier  nepliew 
and  Vittoria  della  Rovere,  3'J4- 
39G ;  death,  411  ;  deplorable 
results  to  Tuscany  of  her  sixteen 
years'  rule,  411-412 

Clarice  Orsini,  wife  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  betrothal, 
i.,  158;  marriage,  1(32-163; 
death,  26G 

Clarice,  daughter  of  Pietro  tlie 
Unfortunate,  marriage,  i.,  3(58- 
369  ;  exemplifies  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  family,  456  ;  hatred  of 
Clement  \'II.,  457;  saves  hor 
husband's  life,  458  ;  high  spirit, 

459  ;  her  impassioned  harangue, 

460  ;  upholds  the  honour  of  her 
family,  461  -  462  ;  death  and 
character,  462-463 

Claudia,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  L, 
first  marriage,  ii.,  388  ;  second 
marriage,  396 ;  Regent  of  Tyrol, 
397;  picture  of  her  at  Iinisbruck, 
397  ;  death,  422 

Contessina  de'  Bardi,  wife  of 
Cosimo  I'ater  Patriae,  i.,  (53 

Contessina,  daugliter  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnilicent,  i.,  295 

Cosimo  I'ater  Patriae,  birth, 
i.,  63  ;  attends  tlie  Council  of 
Constance,  63  ;  marriage,  63  ; 
enmity  of  tlie  nobles,  65  ;  begins 
ne^^■  palace,  66  ;  plot  to  put  him 
to  death,  67  -  ()8  ;  exile,  69; 
recalletl  to  Florence,  72  ;  his 
task,  77  ;  work  on  Itehalf  of 
Learning  and  Art,  78  ;  rebuilds 
and  endows  San  Marco,  80 ; 
impetus  gi\en  to  all  branches 
of  Art,  81  ;  obtains  transfer  of 
Council  from  Ferrara  to  Flor- 
ence, 84  ;  founds  tlie  I'latonic 
Academy,  89  ;  Jiioves  into  new 
palace,  s5l  ;  accusjition  of  Caval- 
canti  against  him,  93-95;  pur- 
chases Borgo  San  Sepolcro,  95  ; 
founds  the  Medici  I.ibrary,  95- 
97  ;  assists  Francesco  Sforzii  to 
gain  Milan,  98  ;  successful  issue 
VOL.   IL 


of  twenty  years'  labours,  loi  ; 
work  as  a  financier,  Hi6  ;  lavish 
charities,  1U7  ;  vilhus  built  by 
liim,  107  ;  great  advance  of  art 
in  his  time,  109  127;  acknow- 
ledged as  "head  of  the  Re- 
public," 128;  grief  at  loss  of 
his  son,  130;  lii-,  death,  130; 
title  of  "  Pater  Patriae  "  ordered 
to  be  inscribed  (ui  his  tomb,  i;{2  ; 
peculiar  arrangement  of  iiis 
tomlj,  132-134;  his  character 
and  achievements,  134-137 
Cosimo  L  (first  Grand  Duke), 
l)irth,  ii.,  217;  boyhood,  2.M1- 
232  ;  gains  the  ruleof  the  State, 
235-237 ;  insurrection  against 
him,  238 ;  victory  of  .Monte- 
murlo,  238 ;  slaughter  of  liis 
oi)poiients,  240-241  ;  uiiu<ual 
character,  241  ;  hei;;ht  to  which 
lie  raised  Tuscanv,  242-2-43 ; 
created  Duke  of  Florence,  243- 
244  ;  marriage,  244  ;  tikes  up 
liis  residence  in  the  Palaz/u 
\'ecchio,  245-246 ;  raises  an 
army,  247  ;  becimies  the  Eni- 
pentr's  mainstiy  in  Italy,  249  ; 
opposes  the  Pope,  250  ;  caus«'.s 
I^orenzino  to  be  a.ss.'i.ssinated, 
251  ;  mediates  between  Siena 
and  the  J^uiperor,  252 ;  gains 
part  of  Kllta,  252  ;  constructs  a 
new  palace,  253-255  ;  lavs  out 
the  Boboli  Cardeiis,  256  ;  Ix'ifiiis 
the  Fort  San  (iiorgio,  257  ; 
Etruscan  collections,  258  ;  col- 
lection of art  treasures,  259-260  ; 
given  the  order  of  the  (foldeu 
Fleece,  261  ;  conijuers  Siena, 
261-264  ;  his  able  government, 
265-2G9  ;  founds  the  Florentine 
TajHJstry  Manufactorv,  2(>!t-271  ; 
builds  tiu;  Sti.  Iriniti  and 
Carraja  bridges,  272  ;  aims  at  a 
crcjwn,  275-27(» ;  influetire  ut 
Home,  277  ;  institutes  the 
order  of  San  Stelano,  278 ; 
dates  of  birth  of  bis  eiglit 
children,  278  ;  death  of  liin 
wife  and  two  sons,  279-2H.'j  ; 
marrii's  his  eldest  son  to  the 
Kmperor's  sister,  291  ;  «l«»rol- 
ates  the  Palazzo  W'crhio,  291  ; 
constructs  the  "  I';iss.iginn,"  292; 
•J   N 


>70 


INDEX 


Cosimo  I. — continued. 

294  ;  surrenders  Carnesecchi  to 
the  Pope,  295  -  296 ;  created 
Grand  Duke,  297-298  ;  marries 
again,  299  ;  retires  to  Castello, 
299;  death,  299;  robbery  of  his 
coffin,  299-300  ;  character  and 
achievements,  301-303 

Cosimo  II.  (fourth  Grand  Duke), 
birth,  ii.,  366;  marriage,  365; 
succeeds  to  the  throne,  373 ; 
agreeable  character,  373 ;  en- 
larges the  family  palace,  376  ; 
builds  the  villa  of  Poggio 
Imperiale,  375  -  376  ;  recalls 
Galileo  and  protects  him,  376- 
378 ;  the  remarkable  results, 
379  -  381  ;  closes  the  Medici 
bank,  383  ;  severe  illness,  384  ; 
increases  the  navy,  384-386  ; 
dispute  with  Louis  XIII.,  385  ; 
death,  388  ;  his  will,  388 

Cosimo  III.  (sixth  Grand  Duke) 
birth,  ii.,  422  ;  training,  427 
character,  450 ;  marriage,  451  , 
domestic  turmoils,  453-464 ;  two 
years'  tour,  456-467  ;  succeeds 
to  the  throne,  459  ;  his  reign  an 
abyss  of  misrule,  462-463 ;  system 
of  espionage,  466 ;  additions  to 
the  Uffizi  Gallery,  468  ;  removes 
the  bodies  to  the  mausoleum  ; 
469  -  470  ;  military  defences 
suffered  to  go  to  ruin,  471  ; 
Tuscany  in  consequence  treated 
with  contempt,  477-478  ;  Treaty 
of  London,  481  ;  unexpected 
energy,  481-482  ;  his  final  pro- 
test, 484 ;  results  of  his  character 
and  training,  484-486. 

Eleonora  di  Toledo,  wife  of 
Cosimo  I.,  marriage,  ii.,  244; 
rooms  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio 
decorated  for  her,  246  ;  six  of 
her  children  born  there,  247  ; 
removes  with  them  into  the 
new  palace,  266  ;  death  of  her 
eldest  daughter,  271 ;  marriage  of 
her  second  and  third  daughters, 
274 ;  death  of  her  second 
daughter,  279 ;  death  of  her 
sons  Giovanni  and  Garzia,  282- 
283  ;  her  own  death,  283  ;  part 
played  by  her  in  establishment 


of  Cosimo's  power,  285  -  286  ; 

cliaracter   and    influence,    287 ; 

hor  portrait  and  its  history,  287- 

289 
Eleonora  di  '1  oledo,  the  younger, 

wife  of  Pietro,  marriage,  ii.,  310; 

her     tragic     story,     310-312; 

death  of  her  four-year-old  son, 

Cosimo,  312 
Eleonora,  daughter  of  Francis  I., 

ii.,  321 
Eleonora,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 

I.,  ii.,  386 
Eleonora  Gonzaga,  wife  of  Fran- 
cesco Maria,  ii.,  476 

Ferdinand  I.  (third  Grand  Duke), 
birth,  ii.,  278;  created  a 
cardinal,  289  ;  hatred  of  Bianca 
Capello,  329 ;  refuses  her 
body  decent  burial,  335-336 ; 
bold  conduct  in  the  Vatican, 
339-340  ;  builds  the  Villa  Medici 
at  Rome,  341  ;  collections  of 
sculpture,  341  ;  succeeds  to  the 
throne,  342 ;  high  character, 
342  ;  marriage,  342-344  ;  wise 
reforms,  346  ;  founds  Leghorn, 
347-348 ;  increases  the  navy, 
348-349 ;  assists  Henry  IV.  of 
France,  349-350  ;  gives  him  his 
niece  in  marriage,  360 ;  his 
additions  to  the  Uffizi  Gallery, 
363-354  ;  begins  the  mausoleum, 
366-359  ;  founds  the  Pietra 
Dura  Manufactory,  359  ;  places 
ball  and  cross  on  the  dome  of 
the  cathedral,  361  ;  buys  the 
villa  of  Petraia,  362 ;  erects 
equestrian  statues  of  his  father 
and  himself,  362-363  ;  arranges 
marriage  of  his  eldest  son  to  the 
future  Emperor's  sister,  365  ; 
ileath,  365  ;  wreath  placed  on 
his  tomb  by  Leghorn,  366  ;  the 
beginning  in  his  reign  of  a  new 
phase  in  the  opposition  to  the 
Medici,  366-372 

Ferdinand  II.  (fifth  Grand  Duke), 
birth,  ii.,  390;  character,  394  ; 
betrothed  to  Vittoria  della 
Rovere,  394;  loss  of  Urbino, 
394-396  ;  sent  on  a  tour,  398  ; 
takes  over  the  government, 
398  ;  action  during  the  plague. 


INDEX 


571 


Ferdinand  II. — continued. 

3r«9-400  ;  incurs  the  euinitv  of 
Pope  Urban  VIII.,  40;j-4()4; 
fails  to  protect  Galileo,  406-407  ; 
marriage,  409 ;  insulted  by  the 
Pope,  413  ;  enlarges  the  family 
palace,  414  -  417  ;  encourages 
the  piefra  dura  industry,  420- 
422  ;  assists  Parma  against  the 
Pope,  423 ;  grievous  state  of 
the  country  through  priestly 
domination,  423  ;  sends  arti- 
ficers to  the  Emperor  Shah  jchan, 
432  ;  associates  his  brothers  with 
him  in  the  government,  433  ; 
forms  the  Philosophical  Society, 
437  ;  esta])lishes  the  Society  of 
the  "  Cimento,"  438-439 ;  forms 
the  Palatine  Library,  441-443; 
formation  of  the  Uffizi  and 
Pitti  Galleries,  444-447  ;  his 
admiration  for  Oliver  Cromwell, 
448 ;  introduces  camels  into 
Tuscany,  449;  arranges  marriage 
of  his  eldest  son,  450  ;  brings 
about  peace  between  France 
and  the  Pope,  453  ;  sends  his 
son  on  an  extended  tour,  456  ; 
death,  457 

Ferdinand,  son  of  Cosimo  III., 
birth,  ii.,  453  ;  education,  464  ; 
revolt  against  hyprocrisy,  465  ; 
marriage,  466  ;  character,  467  ; 
death,  479 

Filippo,  son  of  Francis  I.,  ii.,  321 

Francis  I.  (second  Grand  Duke), 
birth,  ii.,  278;  first  marriage, 
291 ;  given  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment, 299  ;  misrule,  305  ;  suc- 
ceeds to  the  throne,  306  ; 
neglects  State  affairs  for  science, 
306-307;  cimspiracy  against liim, 
308 ;  second  marriage,  318 ; 
passion  for  chemistry,  318-319  ; 
beginning  of  the  Uffizi  Gallery, 
320  ;  death,  333 

Francesco,  son  of  Ferdinand  I., 
ii.,  {585-386 

Francesco,  .=ion  of  Cosimo  II., 
ii.,  410 

Francesco  Maria,  >on  of  Ferdin.md 
II.,  joins  the  society  opposed  to 
hypocrisy,  ii.,  465;  marriage, 
476 ;  death,  476 


Garzia,  son  of  (  osinio  I.,  ii.,  279- 
285 

GinevraCavakanti,  wife  of  Lorenzo 
the  Elder,  ii.,  169 

Ginevra  degli  Albizzi,  wife  of 
Giovanni  (second  son  of  Cosimo), 
i.,  129 

Giovainii  di  liicci,  founder  of  the 
family,  origin  of  his  name, 
i.,  19;  character,  30;  first 
mention,  31  ;  elected  prior 
of  his  guild,  32  ;  pays  Pope 
John's  ransom,  45  ;  erects  and 
endows  the  Foundling  Hospital, 
45  ;  elected  Gonfaloniere,  46  ; 
devises  the  catunto  tax  to 
protect  the  people,  47  ;  foils 
attempt  of  the  nobles  to  regain 
power,  48 ;  begins  rebuilding 
San  Lorenzo,  53  ;  death,  57  ; 
principles  tiuight  by  liim  to  his 
sons,  59 

Giovanni,  son  of  Cosimo  Pater 
Patriae,  i.,  128-130 

Giovanni  (Leo  X.),  son  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  anarchbishopric 
conferred  on  him  at  seven  years 
of  age,  i.,  260;  created  a  car- 
dinal, 268  ;  proceeds  to  Rome, 
291  ;  returns  to  Florence,  308  ; 
banishment,  319  ;  wanderings 
in  exile,  325 ;  retrieves  the 
downfall  of  his  family,  367-368  ; 
taken  prisoner,  379  ;  alleviates 
sufferings  in  the  .^^ack  of  Prato, 

382  ;    re-enters    Florence,  382- 

383  ;  avoids  vindictivcncss,  384  ; 
easy-going  disposition,  385; 
elected  Pope,  404  ;  chief  char- 
acteristics, 405  ;  creates  five 
relations  cardinals,  40(! ;  meets 
Francis  I.  of  France  at  IJologna, 
407  ;  reception  at  Florence,  407  ; 
orders  construction  of  tlie  New 
Sacristy,  40!{  ;  .seizes  I'rbitio, 
396;  conspiracy  to  poison  him, 
408 ;  his  treacliery  against 
liaglioni  and  the  Diiko  of 
Ferrara,410;  surrender-  p(diti- 
cal  affairs  largel\'  to  his  ((lusiii 
(iiulio,  41 1 ;  extensive  patron.iire 
of  Literature  and  .\rt,  412-41.-!  ; 
his  enjoyment  of  the  Papacy, 
414-415  ;  culturiMl  Paganism, 
417-418  ;   tlie  gatlieriug  storm, 


572 


INDEX 


Giovanni — continued. 

419-421  ;  sale  of  Indulgences, 
422  ;  condemns  Luther's  doc- 
trines, 423;  Papal  foi'ces  capture 
Milan,  424;  death,  424;  his 
portrait  by  Raphael,  425-426  ; 
summary  of  his  character,  426 

Giovanni,  son  of  Pier  Francesco  (tlie 
elder),  birth,  ii.,  177;  engaged 
to  the  daughter  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  177  ;  takes  part 
with  his  brother  in  effecting  the 
banishment  of  the  elder  branch, 
i.,  316;  sent  as  ambassador 
to  Forli,  ii.,  177  ;  marriage  to 
Catherine  Sforza,  178 ;  death, 
179 

Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere,  birth, 
ii.,  200  ;  character  as  a  boy,  214  ; 
placed  under  the  charge  of 
Jacopo  Salviati,  214  ;  given  com- 
mand of  a  troop  of  cavalry,  216 
marriage,  216  ;  rapid  rise,  217 
his  corps  the  Bande  Nere,  218 
gains  name  of  "  The  Li vincible," 
218  ;  swims  his  force  across  the 
Adda,  218  ;  rest  at  Reggio,  220  ; 
wounded  before  Pavia,  220 ; 
raises  fresh  troops,  222;  mortally 
wounded  at  Governolo,  222  ; 
death,  223  ;  grief  of  his  soldiers, 
224  ;  character  as  described  by 
Pictro  Aretino,  224-225  ;  secret 
of  his  success,  225-227 

Giovanni,  son  of  Cosimo  L, created 
a  cardinal,  ii.,  278  ;  death,  279- 
285 

Giovanni  Carlo,  son  of  Cosimo  II. , 
created  a  cardinal,  ii.,  425  ;  life 
at  Rome,  434  ;  recalled  to  Flor- 
ence, 434  ;  charged  with  the 
financial  affairs  of  the  State, 
434  ;  together  with  his  brother 
Leopold  helps  to  form  the  Uffizi 
and  Pitti  Galleries,  444-446; 
death,  452 

Giovanni  Gastone  (seventh  Grand 
Duke),  birth,  ii.,  460  ;  educa- 
tion and  character,  472  -  473  ; 
marriage,  473  ;  miserable  life  at 
Reichstadt,  474-475 ;  takes  to 
dissolute  courses,  475  ;  returns 
to  Florence,  476  ;  succeeds  to 
the  throne,  486  ;  sets  himself 
to  reform  abuses,  486  ;  annuls 


the  "  Pensions  on  the  C'reed," 
486  ;  abolishes  the  system 
of  espionage,  487  ;  I'eleases 
prisoners,  487  ;  instals  liis  sister- 
in-law  as  dispenser  of  court 
hospitiilities,  487  ;  revives  con- 
dition of  the  country,  489  ; 
prevents  war  in  Tuscany  between 
Spain  and  Austria,  490  ;  weary 
of  the  struggle  abandons  public 
affairs,  491  ;  sinks  into  complete 
degradation,  492 ;  last  public 
act,  494;  death,  494 

Giuliano,  brother  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,     takes      part     in 
Lorenzo's  tournament,  i.,  160- 
161  ;  helps  to  design  pageants 
213;  his  tournament,  222-223 
his   murder,    234-236 ;    appear 
ance   and  character,  242  -  244 
opening  of  his  tomb,  245 

Giuliano  (Due  de  Nemours),  son 
of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
birth,  i.,  295  ;  banishment,  323  ; 
wanderings  in  exile,  325  ;  takes 
refuge  at  the  court  of  Urbino 
388 ;  attractive  personality,  390 
re-enters  Florence,  382-383 
avoids  vindictiveness,  384 ;  made 
ruler  of  Floience,  388 ;  called 
to  Rome,  391  ;  refuses  to  be 
made  Duke  of  Urbino,  392 ; 
embassy  to  France,  393  ;  mar- 
riage, 393  ;  given  the  title  of 
Due  de  Nemours,  393 ;  accom- 
panies Leo  X.  to  Bologna,  393  ; 
death,  393  ;  his  tomb,  394  ;  his 
portrait  by  Raphael,  394-395 

Giulio,  (Clement  V"II.),  nephew  of 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  birth, 
i.,  244  ;  banishment,  323  ; 
wanderings  in  exile,  325  ; 
scheme  as  regards  the  future  of 
the  family,  386-388  ;  first  gives 
proof  of  his  great  ability,  400  ; 
difficult  family  politics,  401- 
402  ;  created  a  cardinal,  406  ; 
chief  adviser  to  Leo  X.,  411  ; 
Raphael's  portrait  of  him,  426  ; 
fails  to  be  elected  Pope,  427- 
428 ;  pacifies  discord  at  Flor- 
ence, 429 ;  mistaken  view  gener- 
ally entertained  of  him,  436  ; 
ability,  436-437  ;  elected  Pope, 
438 ;    character   of    his    ponti- 


INDEX 


573 


Giulio — continued. 

ficate,  440  -  442  ;  at  first  sides 
with  Charles,  442  ;  coiicliules 
secret      treaty     with     Francis, 

444  ;  again  sides  witli  C'harles, 

445  ;  deception  as  to  the  por- 
trait of  Leo  X.,  446;  again 
sides  with  Francis,  446  ;  forms 
the  Holy  League,  447  ;  attacks 
the  Colonna,  449 ;  terror  at 
advance  of  Bourbon's  army, 
451  ;  besieged  in  the  castle  of 
St  Angelo,  453-454  ;  escapes  to 
Orvieto,  454 ;  extent  of  his 
disaster,  455  ;  loss  of  Florence 
a  severe   blow   to   his   scheme, 

464  ;  all  states  opposed  to  him, 

465  ;  returns  to  Rome,  466  ; 
liis  widespread  scheme  to  regain 
power  over  Florence,  467  ;  his 
secret  compact  with  Charles  at 
Jiarcelona,  467  ;  triumph  of  his 
diplomacy,  469  ;  crowns  Charles 
at  Bologna,  470  ;  further  com- 
pact with  him,  471  ;  cajrtures 
Florence,  476 ;  instals  Ales- 
sandro  as  ruler  of  Florence, 
478  ;  treatment  of  I  ppolito,  496  ; 
meets  Charles  a  second  time  at 
Bologna,  481  ;  difficult  journeys 
to  avoid  Florence,  481  ;  action 
regarding  I Icnry  VI n. 's divorce, 
482-484;  bondage  to  Charles, 
484  ;  cotip  to  outwit  him,  485- 

486  ;  marries  Catherine  to  tlie 
son  of  the  King  of  F'rance,  485  ; 
his  endeavours  to  avoid  a  com- 
plete breach  with  Henry  VIH., 

487  ;  death,  488  ;  insults  to  his 
tomb,  488  ;  results  of  his  ponti- 
ficate, 489  ;  underlying  motive 
of  all  his  actions,  489-492  ;  an 
historical  retribution,  492 

Ippor.iTO,  son  of  Giuliano  (Due 
de  Nemours),  birth,  i.,  o9l  ; 
brought  up  by  his  uncle,  Leo  X., 
494  ;  sent  to  Florence,  4.'^)8 ; 
banishment, 461-462 ;  character, 
494-495;  made  a  cardinal 
against  his  will,  496  ;  embassy 
to  Hungary,  49()  ;  fondness  for 
the  Hungarians,  500;  life  at 
Bologna,  500  ,  erects  the  tombs 
of  the  two  Medici  I'opes,  424  ; 


sent  by  the  F)  orentines  to  appeal 
against  Alessandro,  502  ;  liis 
murder,  50:{  ;  liis  portrait  by 
Titian,  503-504 
Isabella,  daugliter  of  Cosimo  I., 
marriage  to  Paolo  (Jiordano 
Orsini,  ii.,  273-274;  returns 
to  Florence,  285  ;  kind-liearted 
disposition,  313 ;  beauty  and 
accomplishments,  313  ;'  lier 
murder  at  Cerreto  Guidi,  314- 
315 

Joanna  of  Austria,  first  wife  of 
Francis  L,  marriage,  ii.,  291- 
292  ;  death,  316  ;  cliaracter, 
317  ;  peculiarity  about  botli  lu'r 
portraits,  317-3J8;  Jier  Ixidy  so 
well  embalmed  tliat  after  three 
hundred  years  it  appeared  as  if 
only  just  buried,  318 

Laudomia  Acciajuoli,  wife  of  Pier 
Francesco  (tlic  elder),  ii.,  170 

Laudomia,  daughter  of  Pier  Fran- 
cesco (the  younger),  i.,  506-508 

Leopold,  son  of  Cosimo  II.,  ability 
and  energy,  ii.,  435  ;  corre- 
sponds with  leading  men  of 
science  throughout  Europe,  435  ; 
one  of  Galileo's  chief  pupils 
and  leader  of  those  anxious  to 
carry  on  the  hitter's  discoveries, 
436  ;  forms  the  Societv  of  tlie 
"Cimento,"  438  ;  liis  able 
leadersliip  of  it,  439 ;  catastroplie 
to  the  Society  on  iiis  resigning, 
440  ;  with  his  brotlier  forms  the 
rjffizi  and  Pitti  (ialleries,  444- 
446  ;  collection  of  tiie  portraits 
of  the  ])ainters,  445  ;  valuable 
collection  of  drawings,  44(5 ; 
collection  of  miniatures,  446  ; 
ebony  cabinet,  446  ;  created  a 
canlinal,  455  ;  helps  to  guide 
his  nepiiew,  4()0  ;  death,  4(51 

Loren/o  (the  elder),  brother  of 
Cosimo  l*ater  I'atriae,  ii..  1(59 

Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  son  of 
Piero  il  (iottoso,  education, 
i.,  151  ;  given  practice  in  public 
atfairsat  fourteen,  151 ;  .sjives  his 
fatlu'r's  life,  154  ;  sjjeech  on  bis 
father's  <'onduct,  15(5  ;  bctrr)tberl 
to  Clarice  Orsini,  158  ;  his  tour- 


574 


INDEX 


Lorenzo  the  Magnificent — contd. 
uanient,  158-lGO  ;  device  on  liis 
standard,  160;  marriage,  1(j2- 
163;  pictorial  record  of  his 
saving  the  family  from  ruin, 
177  -  178  ;  private  crest,  186  ; 
succeeds  to  the  rule  of  Florence, 
206  ;  his  account  of  it,  212  ;  his 
name  of  Magnificent,  for  what 
reasons  given,  207  ;  combination 
of  democracy  and  autocracy, 
208-200  ;  absence  of  arrogance, 
211  ;  elaborate  pageants,  212- 
214  ;  midnight  tournaments  and 
snowballing,  214  -  215  ;  field 
sports  and  literary  gatherings, 
216  ;  third  attempt  to  destroy 
the  family,  217  ;  visit  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan,  217  -  218  ; 
embassy  to  Rome,  219  ;  revolt 
of  Volterra,  219-220  ;  entertains 
Leonora  of  Arragon,  221-222 
Giuliano's  tournament,  222-223 
pictorial  record  of  it,  224-228 
Lorenzo's  speech  on  the  death 
of  Simonetta  de'  Vespucci,  229  ; 
the  Pazzi  Conspiracy,  229-242  ; 
the  relations  between  the  two 
brothers,  243-244 ;  the  Pope's 
demand  that  Florence  should 
surrender  him,  246  ;  Tuscany's 
excommunication  of  the  Pope, 
260-251 ;  Florence  overmatched 
in  the  war,  251-252  ;  Lorenzo 
proceeds  to  Naples,  252 ;  his 
triumph,  253-254 ;  turning-point 
in  his  history,  255 ;  pride  of 
the  Florentines  in  the  results  of 
the  rule  he  established,  256 ; 
death  of  his  mother,  259  ; 
obtains  an  archbishopric  for 
his  second  son,  260 ;  succeeds 
in  bringing  about  peace,  261  ; 
prosperity  and  contentment  of 
Florence,  264 ;  task  of  main- 
taining peace  of  Italy  devolves 
upon  him,  265  ;  retakes  Sarzana, 
265  ;  death  of  his  wife,  266  ; 
recalls  Savonarola  to  Florence, 
268 ;  creates  peace  between 
Naples  and  the  Pope,  269  ;  en- 
circles Florence  with  a  ring  of 
friendly  states,  270 ;  his  work 
for  the  resuscitation  of  Learning, 
270-274  ;  founds  the  University 


of  Pisa,  273 ;  founds  the 
Academy  of  Florence,  274  ;  his 
literary  work,  275  ;  fine  quality 
of  his  poetry,  275-276  ;  efforts 
to  advance  the  Tuscan  language, 
270  ;  love  of  nature  shown  in 
his  poems,  277-279  ;  his  literary 
coterie,  279-281  ;  encourage- 
ment of  art,  282-284  ;  letter  on 
his  deatli-bed  to  his  son  Giovanni, 
291  ;  death,  292  ;  story  regard- 
ing his  interview  with  Savona- 
rola, 292-295  ;  appearance  and 
social  qualities,  296  -  298  ;  his 
character  and  conduct  examined, 
299-305  ;  his  tomb  without  any 
monument,  306-307 
Lorenzo,  son  of  Pier  F'rancesco 
(the  elder),  birth,  ii.,  171  ;  his 
jealousy   of   the   elder    branch, 

172  ;  causes  their  banishment, 
i.,  316  ;  abandons  for  a  time  the 
name  of  Medici,  323 ;  made  a 
member  of  the  Government, 
ii.,  173;  his  want  of  capacity, 
173;  enmity  against  Savonarola, 

173  ;  becomes  one  of  the  Pope's 
agents  for  his  destruction,  173  ; 
attempts  to  steal  his  brother's 
estate,  174  ;  ignoble  character, 
174 ;  convicted  of  embezzling 
his  nephew's  property,  210- 
211  ;  shame  at  the  discovery 
causes  his  death,  211 

Lorenzo  (Duke  of  tfrbino),  son  of 
Pietro  the  Unfortunate,  birth, 
i.,  395 ;  given  the  rule  of 
Florence,  395  ;  made  by  Leo  X. 
Duke  of  Urbino,  396  ;  fails  to 
observe  the  instructions  given 
him,  397';  unpopularity,  397  ; 
marriage,  397-398  ;  death,  398  ; 
his  tomb,  399 

Lorenzo,  son  of  Ferdinand  I., 
ii.,  425-426 

Lorenzino,  son  of  Pier  Francesco 
(the  younger),  i.,  .506;  culture 
and  literary  talent,  507 ;  be- 
comes Alessandro's  constant 
companion,  507  ;  repulses  his 
mother's  endeavours  to  make 
him  break  otf  the  connection, 
507  ;  murders  Alessandro,  506  ; 
called  by  Filippo  Strozzi  the 
deliverer  of  his  country,   508  ; 


INDEX 


57^ 


Lorenzino — continued. 

motives  for  his  act,  508-509  ;  his 
house  pulled  down,  510  ;  his 
assassination,  ii.,  250-252 

Lucrezia  Tornabuoni,  wife  of 
Piero  il  Gottoso,  i.,  186;  one 
of  the  most  notable  ladies  of 
her  age,  18(5;  literary  attain- 
ments, 187  ;  high  character, 
187  ;  St  Antoniuo's  Opera  a  hen 
Vivei'e  addressed  to  her,  187  ; 
Lorenzo's  deference  to  her,  188  ; 
her  death,  259 

Lucrezia  (or  Nannina),  daughter 
of  Piero  il  Gottoso,  i.,  188 

Lucrezia,  daughter  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  married  to  Jacopo 
Salviati,  i.,  295-296;  completes 
the  tombs  of  the  two  Medici 
Popes,  425 ;  takes  charge  of 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  as 
a  boy,  ii.,  214-215 

Lucrezia,  daughter  of  Cosimo  L, 
marriage  to  Alfonso  d'Este, 
ii.,  274  ;  death,  279 

Maddalena,  daughter  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  i.,  266 

Ahuldalena,  daughter  of  Pier 
Francesco  (the  younger),  i.,  508 

Maddalena,  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand L,  ii.,  387 

Madeleine  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne, 
wife  of  Lorenzo  (Duke  of 
Urbino),  her  marriage,  i.,  397- 
398  ;  death,  398 

Margaret,  daughter  of  Charles  V., 
wife  of  Alessandro,  brought  up 
by  her  two  aunts,  i.,  49!)  ;  visits 
Florence,  499 ;  marriage  to 
Alessandro,  505  ;  flies  from 
Florence,  512  ;  forced  to  marry 
Otfaivio  Farnese,  512  ;  becomes 
celebrated  as  Margaret  of  Parma, 
512  ;  resigns  the  rule  of  the 
Netherlands,  512  ;  death,  513 

Margherita,  daughter  of 
Cosimo  IL,  ii.,  393;  married 
to  Eduardo  Farnese,  Duke  of 
Parma,  398-399 

Marguerite  Louise  of  Orleans, 
wife  of  Cosimo  IIL,  l)rouglit 
up  as  future  Queen  of  France, 
ii.,  450  ;  character,  450  ;  forced 
to  marry  Cosimo,  451  ;  detesta- 


tion of  him,  452 ;  her  misery, 
452  ;  threats  and  arguments 
fruitlessly  employed  to  coerce 
her,  453  -  454 ;  projects  for 
escape,  456  ;  demands  a  separa- 
tion, 460  ;  allowed  to  return  to 
France,  461  ;  her  ridicule  of 
Cosimo  and  the  court  of 
Tuscany,  462  ;  encourages  the 
party  opposed  to  the  monastic 
atmosphere  of  the  court,  464- 
465  ;  death,  483 

Maria,  daughter  of  Piero  il  Gottoso, 
i.,  188 

Maria,  daughter  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  i.,  295  ;  engaged 
to  her  cousin,  but  dies  before 
her  marriage,  ii.,  172 

Maria,  daughter  of  Cosimo  L, 
ii.,  271-272 

Maria,  daughter  of  Francis  L, 
childhood,  ii.,  321  ;  given  a 
home  by  her  uncle,  3.50 ;  married 
to  Henry  IV.  of  France,  351  ; 
character,  351  ;  storms  in  the 
royal  household,  351-352  ;  ex- 
travagance in  dress,  352 ;  her 
arrangements  to  obtain  an 
equestrian  statue  of  her  husband, 
363  ;  becomes  Queen  Regent  of 
France,  381  ;  her  authority  cast 
off  by  her  son,  382  ;  escape  from 
Blois,  382  ;  subsequent  mis- 
fortunes, 383  ;  death,  383 

Maria  Christina,  daughter  of 
Cosimo  II. ,  ii.,  403 

Maria  Soderini,  wife  of  Pier  Fran- 
cesco (the  younger),  i.,  506-507 

Maria  Salviati,  wife  of  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Xere,  marriage, 
ii.,  216;  attractive  character, 
229 ;  tenderness  and  commoii- 
.sense,  230;  purcliasos  of  military 
equipment  for  her  iiusl)and,  230; 
hears  of  his  death,  230  ;  retires 
to  Trebbia,  231  ;  fears  for  her 
son,  231-232  ;  letter  to  Filippo 
Slrozzi,  232-233 ;  removes  to 
Castello,  234  ;  heartless  conduct 
of  her  son  to  her,  234;  death. 
234 

Maria  Maddalena  of  .Vustria, 
wife  of  Cosimo  II..  marriage, 
ii.,  365  ;  agreeable  disposition. 
373;  villa  of  I'oggio  Imperiale 


576 


INDEX 


Maria  Maddalena — continued. 
built  for  her,  376-370  ;  made 
joint  Reg^eut  of  Tuscany,  388  ; 
love  of  magnificence,  391  ; 
sensible  manner  of  educating 
her  cliildren,  393 ;  starts  to 
visit  her  brother  the  Emperor, 
401  ;  death  at  Passau,  401  ;  her 
character  and  achievements, 
401-403 

Mattias,  son  of  CoSimo  II.,  takes 
part  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
ii.,  403;  made  commander  of 
the  army  of  Tuscany,  483 ; 
made  Governor  of  Siena,  433  ; 
death,  455 

Nannina  {see  Lucrezia) 

Philibkrte  of  Savoy,  wife  of 
Giuliano  (Due  de  Nemours), 
i.,  393 

Piecarda  Bueri,  wife  of  Giovanni 
di  Bicci,  i.,  30 

Piero  il  Gottoso,  son  of  Cosimo 
Pater  Patriae,  succeeds  to  the 
lieadship  of  the  family,  i.,  148  ; 
chronic  ill-health,  148  ;  perma- 
nent record  of  the  high  opinion 
entertained  of  him,  149;  position 
in  the  State,  150-151  ;  plot  to 
achieve  his  death,  152  ;  rebellion 
of  Luca  Pitti,  154 ;  its  suppres- 
sion without  loss  of  life,  154- 
155  ;  effect  of  his  combined 
ability,  promptness,  and  clem- 
ency, 156 ;  defeats  Venice  and 
gains  Sai-zana  for  Florence,  157  ; 
successful  campaign  against  the 
Pope,  157  ;  entertains  all  Flor- 
ence on  his  son's  marriage,  162- 
163 ;  encouragement  of  art, 
164 ;  vigorous  action  against 
troublesome  adherents,  182 ; 
death,  182 ;  Machiavelli's  de- 
scription of  his  character,  183  ; 
Botticelli's  remarkable  memorial 
of  him,  178-181  ;  his  tomb  by 
Verrocchio,  184 

Pier  Francesco  (the  elder),  sou 
of  Lorenzo  (the  elder),  ii.,  170- 
171 

Pier  Francesco  (the  younger)  son. 


of     Lorenzo     (the      younger),  ^ 
ii.,  175-176  • 

Pietro  the  Unfortunate,  son  of 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  suc- 
ceeds to  the  rule  of  the  State, 
i.,  309;  appearance  and  char- 
acter, 309  ;  unpopularity,  310  ; 
hostility  of  the  younger  itranch, 
311  ;  advance  of  the  French 
army,  315  ;  his  difficulties  in- 
creased by  the  action  of  his 
cousins,  316  ;  problem  before 
him,  317-818  ;  banishment,  319 ; 
sack  of  the  Medici  Palace,  320  ; 
unreality  as  regards  Pietro  of 
the  inscription  placed  on  statue 
of  Judith,  322  ;  his  fruitless 
efforts  to  regain  Florence,  324  ; 
takes  service  with  the  French, 
326  :  death,  326  ;  Botticelli's 
portrait  of  him,  326-328 

Pietro,  sou  of  Cosimo  I.,  ii.,  309- 
313 

Salvestro,  grandfather  of  Gio- 
vanni di  Bicci,  i. ,  20 

Salvestro,  leader  of  the  riot  of  the 
Ciompi,  i.,  21 

Semiramide  d'Appiano,  wife  of 
Lorenzo  (the  younger),  ii.,  175 


ViERi,  pacifier  of  the  rebellion 
against  Maso  degli  Albizzi, 
i.,  21 

Violante  Beatrice  of  Bavaria,  wife 
of  Ferdinand,  eldest  son  of 
Cosimo  III.,  marriage,  ii.,  466  ; 
her  virtues,  good  sense,  and 
talents,  487-488;  the  Golden 
Rose  conferred  on  her,  488  ; 
encouragement  of  happiness 
among  the  people,  489  ;  death, 
491  ;  her  heart  buried  in  her 
husband's   coffin,  479 

\'ittoria  della  Rovere,  wife  of 
Ferdinand  II.,  birth,  ii.,  386 ; 
sent  to  the  convent  of  the 
Crocetta,  397  ;  marriage,  409  ; 
dowry,  410 ;  character,  427  ; 
the  evil  genius  of  three  genera- 
tions, 428  ;  practicallv  governs 
the  State,  461  ;  death,"  472 


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